Reverse 911

The phone rang in the dead of night. My sister picked it up just listening, expecting the worst. Isn’t it always bad at 3AM? The line was dead, yet when she queried Hello? A computer-generated voice identified itself as the Reverse 911 system. There was a tornado cell in her immediate area. She was advised to take cover. She stayed in bed, but flipped on the weather channel to see what was going on. Sure enough there was a red tornado cell over town but it passed north of them. An hour or so later, the phone rang again to announce the all clear.

I had never heard of this type of arrangement before. She said this was her first call. The entire county and maybe the whole state is using it. The amazing thing is that it can pinpoint the danger and call those in the area. I don’t know how this works if you don’t have a published phone number or if you only use a cell phone.

Interesting. Do you have this in your community? I don’t think we do.