'This is a critical message from the McDonough Alert System.' During severe weather events, McDonough County residents will receive an email, a text message and a phone call from the McDonough County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA) alerting them of a severe thunderstorm watch/warning, a tornado watch/warning and other weather-related events.
On Friday, April 17 when severe weather swept through McDonough County, more than 30 alerts were issued over an eight-hour period. That was a rare situation, ESDA Director Edgar Rodriguez explained, due to the Lincoln, Illinois National Weather Service (NWS) being offline due to a radar issue. This led the Davenport, Iowa NWS, which covers McDonough County, to also pick up Fulton County and other counties further south and east, which led to watches, warnings and all-clear messages, sometimes within just a few minutes of one another, to be issued numerous times between 12:30 p.m. and 8:35 p.m. that day.
According to Rodriguez, when the NWS releases its 'polygons' – the areas that will be impacted, or are being impacted by severe weather – the county's emergency alert system, which is powered by Everbridge, automatically sends the watch or warning message. And when an NWS station is down, another will pick up the 'ball' and there will be overlaps, as was the case April 17.
'There were blanket watches and warnings for numerous counties and as the storms continued moving, the watches and warnings continued to be activated,' Rodriguez shared.
Everbridge has initial prompts in the system, which are launched when the NWS activates a warning/watch. Fifteen of the 30-plus alerts on April 17 were the result of a 'glitch' due to the larger coverage area than usual for the Davenport station, which also covers a portion of Iowa and Missouri.
