Authorities came under fire when it was suggested there were no warnings of the flash floods in Texas, which resulted in at least 120 lives being lost, with many more people still missing.
In fact, the Wireless Emergency Alerts system was used to send multiple warnings, but a number of issues meant that many Texans didn’t receive them or act on them – and a new report suggests that’s a hard problem to fix …
Texas flood tragedy
CNN reports that 120 people are confirmed to have died, and that this number is likely to rise significantly given the numbers still missing.
At least 150 people are known to be missing in Kerr County as a result of the flooding in Central Texas, according to officials. At least a dozen others are missing in other parts of the state. Authorities confirmed today that 120 people have died.
The Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system
FEMA and the FCC jointly created a Wireless Emergency Alerts system intended to warn people of imminent threat to life. These can be directed to all phones within a specific geographic area, or across the US.
WEA messages are sent to every smartphone that is powered on and within range of a cellular tower, regardless of whether or not it has coverage on its own network. Alerts also sound even if a phone has been silenced or placed in Do Not Disturb mode.
When a message is received, a loud siren sounds, the phone vibrates, and the message appears on the screen. You may recall a nationwide test back in 2023.
The WEA was used, but there were problems
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