CodeRED Weather Alerts . . .
 

Here we go again....another round of severe weather.

Although we are signed up for the Sumter County CodeRED alerts, they seem to be rather hit and miss. For instance, last week, my wife and I both got 3 warning calls. This was during the Wednesday afternoon storm. For the Thursday storms, neither of us received any calls, even though there was a Tornado Warning issued. Now today, with the Severe Thunderstorm Warning, I received a call and my wife nothing.

It's a great service, but doesn't seem very reliable. Is anyone else having the same sort of problem ???

The calls are to my Verizon wireless cell phone.

Exactly the same happened to me last week as what you describe. I received calls Wed, but none Thu. I did just (5 minutes ago) get a code red call regarding the severe T storm warning for today.

We got calls for the Wednesday storm to our cell phone while we were in NC. Just got two to our cell phone and one to our land line phone for today's weather. My weather radio has been going off loud and often today! I've got three counties coded for alert.

Very very sporadic, at best. Should NOT be the case, but it appears they have contracted the job out and are not getting what the asked for. My land line and cell went off simultaneously this morning, so I'm running to different corners of the house.... But I DID get the call.

I also got two calls to my home on Wednesday and nothing on thursday....strange to say the least..

Emergency weather radio
 

My suggestion - in addition to having the phone alert - is to go to Wal-Mart and buy yourself a $30 emergency weather radio. They can easily be set by you for just your own county. Some people have the radios coded by the fire stations but that is not needed. Do it yourself. If you can program your DVR recorder, you can program the emergency weather radio.

The radio is plugged into a wall socket and also has a 9volt battery backup. It only sounds the alarm when there is a watch or warning for emergency weather such as heavy thunderstorm or tornado.

This a a very good thing to buy to supplement the phone alerts.

yes, we already decided to do that, in case the power goes out...we lost our tv reception last week for a long time, so really weren't getting any updates....

Good advice... Have the weather radio too. But, I have a hard time hearing the weather radio, when I'm not at home... :D

It's a good idea to have both...I'd just like CodeRED to be a bit more reliable.

Cheers....

i live in a concrete block cyv with a tile roof that has passed wind mitgation tests and is as safe as one will find anywhere in the villages. so why would i want to be woke up in the middle of the night and be told there was a thunderstorm or tornado warning? i dont have a basement so why get woke up? id rather sleep through it.

We'd all rather sleep through it, but the storms that we're alerted for could and do spawn tornados. Not sure if your house would stand up to one that might hit it directly, even though your walls are strong and your roof is rated for strong winds. Were you here for the one that struck a few years ago, early in the AM? Lots of homes lost, and even concrete block homes in the tornado path were pretty damaged. It isn't my intention to frighten anyone, but storms can be severe here and damage can take place. Lightning can also ignite house fires and has. This area is one of the most active lightning areas in the US.
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...07tornado3.jpg

my point is if you get a call at 0300 that there is a tornado warning. are you going to stay up the rest of the night worrying? and when is the last time a house was struck by lightening and burned down"?

Redtail, some residents want to be warned so they can go to an interior room with no windows.

Doesn't matter when the last house burned down, it did. I believe at least 5 houses have burned since I've been here...could be a few more, I'm not positive. http://www.thevha.net/the-villages-v...9&op=3&issue=9

Does seem annoying, but the alerts are issued by the national weather service and that's the way they are issued....a watch, then a warning. When the radio goes off, I turn on tv to see what the heck is happening. My weather radio is set for three counties so it goes off more than other ones set for only one county. Watching the tv will give me some idea about what's happening and I can either head off to sleep or get ready to duck and cover so to speak. I didn't have a weather radio when the tornado struck, but the bright flashes from the constant lightning woke me and tv was already on....it had been a day filled with watches so I decided to sleep with tv on so I could hear what might be going on. I awoke in time to hear Tony Manolfi from WESH announcing that "If you live in The Villages, take cover NOW!" It is indeed annoying to be awakened, but after that particular night, I'll just keep getting up, shutting off the alarm, checking on tv and then try to take a nap the next day... ;)

An acquaintance lived in a Lantana the night the tornado struck and suddenly, her roof fell in on her bed. Fortunately, she had just moved in the bed and pulled the covers over her head and was spared severe injury.

For me personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Coming from CA where earthquakes struck without warning, I appreciate the opportunity to at least try and protect my family.

I think Code Red is a great idea but have to agree that I'm a little disappointed in its reliability. I was really surprised that I did not receive any phone calls last Thursday. On other days, the phone calls that I have received about weather problems have sometimes been timely but on other days Code Red calls have arrived much later than the warnings that were issued by my weather radio. I only use Code Red as a backup to my weather radio or for those types of emergencies that are not weather related. For weather related emergencies, I rely on my weather radio.

How do you get codeRed and what does it cost. I have a rather sophisticated early alert storm tracking device I use up here in PA for alerting golfers of impending storms. It tells me the ETA, range and speed. I will be bringing it when we move (soon) but always like backup i.e. radar etc.

Our house watcher reports no damage in the last 3 waves thank the Lord.