Mastodon bots which mirror the NWS warnings back them up
What failed was local officials not succeeding in alerting people — in large part because they had plan or mechanism available to do so with the roughly one-hour warning that current meteorology can provide for specific flash floods like this.
Archived copies of the article:
I’m reminded of the time cops woke up the entire state of Texas at 5AM, to say a dude named Sam Altman shot at a cop near Amarillo. They issued a Blue Alert for the entire state. For reference, many Texans were more than an 8 hour drive away from where it happened. Yeah, shit like that gets emergency notifications muted.
I vented on a local Facebook group when that happened. Saying that the continued police abuse of the emergency alert system would quickly cause the alerts to mean nothing. I frequently also got amber alerts for the opposite end of the state, well over twelve hours away.
To say that my concern was an unpopular opinion would be a massive understatement. People were downright hostile. A lot of locals could never fathom that what I was saying was true. And they used all the four letter words to tell me so. A sheriff’s deputy called me a godless cop hater and a disgusting person.
Fortunately that particular cop is unemployed for abusing his power and some domestic abuse allegations. Oh and trying to fight his neighbor while in uniform.
And and I’m still right. They abused the alert system so much it is useless. And children and the elderly and innocent paid that price with their lives.
Yes, 100% you’re right.
I don’t think “godless cop hater” was the insult he thought it was.
Last year we had heavy rain. Every time the flash flood advisory was extended, a new “wake the dead” alert went out. These alerts ignored my phone’s audio settings and were very loud.
After around the 7th alarm between, iirc, 3 pm and 10 pm I disabled the alerts. I was too on edge by the idea of another alarm to fall asleep.
I’m not sure I turned those alarms back on.
I suggest checking.
Fine, they’re back on. But I’m only allowing Extreme alerts. The flash flood updates were Severe alerts and I’m not dealing with that bullshit again.
Foam mattresses float. Just keep a bottle of water and a hand axe under your pillow 👍
I sleep in a hammock, but I’ll keep a pool noodle nearby. If my second floor bedroom on a hill floods then I might actually be able to get out of my not-to-modern-code high bedroom windows without using my step stool.
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There’s a blue alert? Jfc. It’s pathetic that they think we care.