'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.
'When the radars at the NWS stations are working as they should, there is very little redundancy,' he added.
There are built-in templates to ensure consistent and accurate information is shared, and in a timely manner to give people enough time to seek shelter or take the appropriate action to get to safety. In April 2026 alone, there have been 80 weather alerts launched, Rodriguez said, compared to 14 during the month of March. Everbridge has been in place since 2019; however, the contract is up this year and the county is moving to a new system and vendor. Raven will be up and running by the end of the year. While it is a similar system to the current alert platform, the updated system will allow for more information to be provided to lessen confusion – and calls to the 911 Center, Rodriguez noted.
'It will still be an automated message based on NWS information, but we will be able load specific messages to provide more information at the outset,' he said.
This streamlined system is also crucial at this point in time as NWS staff have been cut dramatically over the past year due to cuts at the federal level. According to Rodriguez, some stations that had 10 staff now only have three, which means fewer employees are responsible for monitoring much larger swaths of a quadrant or quadrants.
'They used to be able to divide and conquer, but now they must rely more on trained observers in the field,' he said. 'In the state of Illinois, we have trained observers who have a direct link to the National Weather Service. They have a specific number to call to provide real-time information. This increases reliability as there are competent, trained volunteers out there helping. With cuts to professional staff, these trained observers are critical.'
Visit weather.gov/dvn/spotters#schedule for more information on how to become a trained spotter.
If McDonough County residents are not signed up for alerts, or are not receiving alerts via text, phone call, or email, visit mcesda. com/get-informed/ to sign up.
