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Wireless alert message saves local residents

For some local residents, emergency messages sent to their cellphones were the first warnings of flash flooding in the region.

At 3:30 a.m. Friday, individuals in flooding areas received a Wireless Emergency Alert with the following message: “Flash Flood Warning this area ’til 7:30 a.m. EDT. Avoid flood areas. Check local media.”

The message content was from the National Weather Service in State College, but the cellphone message was delivered by means of a coordinated agreement between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the weather service and various cellphone providers the area, according to Peter Jung, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

It’s a system implemented a few years ago and is only for the “most extreme warnings,” Jung said, adding that it is targeted only toward individuals in threatened areas.

“We all got this emergency signal and text at 3:30 a.m,” said Ann Swift, of Trout Run. “In my neighborhood, that’s when the traffic started as people moved vehicles to high ground, and started securing their homes or evacuating.”

For many, including Swift, this was the first warning that the waters could threaten their homes.

“Everyone keeps talking about how the new cellphone technology saved their life or at least saved them from greater loss,” Swift said.

According to Jung, alerts of this nature not only are sent out for weather emergencies, but also could be used for other emergencies such as amber alerts or other disasters that could cause immediate threat to life.

Additionally, it is a system pre-programed into newer phones and is nothing residents need to sign up for, Jung said.

“Eventually all the phones will have that capability,” Jung said, emphasizing its lifesaving importance.

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