Prepare for Hurricane Irene, PRWA / Swiftreach

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Dear Valued SwiftReach Client,

Many of our clients on the East Coast may be impacted by Hurricane Irene this weekend.  As with any natural disaster, the feedback we are receiving from local officials is that they “prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”  In your efforts to prepare for this storm, or any pending natural disaster, SwiftReach would like to recommend the following:

Record a series of messages, specifically for this storm, in your SwiftReach account as soon as possible.

Create, or check that your SwiftReach account already has a series of lists for use. Lists should range from a community wide list to specific lists for known flood zones.  Also lists to contact the staffs of your DPW and First Responders can be used to mobilize resources.

If you are new to using SwiftReach or just would like refresher training, in anticipation of the storm, we have added the following on line training sessions:

Thursday August 25, 2011 at 9:30am EDT

Thursday August 25, 2011 at 1:30pm EDT

Friday August 26, 2011 at 9:30am EDT

Friday August 26, 2011 at 1:30pm EDT

To register for one of the above on line training sessions, conducted live with a SwiftReach Networks’ trainer, log into your SwiftReach account, on the left side of the page under the heading of Tutorials & Help click on Webex Training, then click on the session you would like to attend.  After doing so you will receive a confirmation email inviting you to the session.  However, if for any reason there is an issue with the Webex meeting invitation e-mail, a couple of minutes before your scheduled time, you can always click on or place in your web browser: http://swiftreach.webex.com then click on the link that states Swift911 & SwiftH2O Training for the time you are scheduled, then enter your Name and Email address and click the JOIN button.  If you have any questions or require assistance, then please feel free to contact us at 1-800-794-3891 and press #3 for Support.

Send SwiftReach Notifications to your community (Thursday and Friday) well before the storm.  Major storms affect local communication networks, therefore sending messages prior to a storm ensures faster results and higher call completion rate.  Please keep in mind that staging a series of brief messages is the best approach to ensuring that each message is listened to its entirety.

Suggestions for Pre-Storm message content:

- Advise your community to update their contact information for use in your SwiftReach account via your SwiftReach Public Web Portal.  When citizens provide their cellular telephone numbers it allows you to contact them if traditional telephone service is down as well as if they need to evacuate and cannot be reached at their home telephone number.  A member of your staff must review and approve these request prior to them becoming activated in your database.

-Advise your community that if they have a telephone that relies on commercial power (the telephone needs to be plugged into an electrical outlet such as a VoIP telephone or a telephone with an answering machine) they may not receive important SwiftReach calls during the storm.  For their home, they should have a basic telephone that works solely by plugging the telephone into the telephone jack as well as they should register their cellular telephone via your community’s  SwiftReach Public Web Portal to allow for multiple communication paths during a time of crisis.

-Advise your community of the specific shelters that will be open during the storm.

-Advise your community to be prepared with bottled water, batteries, working radio, candles, etc.,

-Advise your community to anticipate high winds so they should secure outdoor furniture, play sets, etc.

-Advise your community to anticipate local flooding, therefore they should prepare basements if it is prone to flooding and check sump pumps.

-Advise the elderly, homebound, and other special needs people (require oxygen, commercial power) of the specific resources available to them during the storm.

-If garbage collection is to take place this weekend, advise that it has been suspended or postponed to an alternative date due to the storm and that residents should secure or bring garbage cans indoors.

-Provide specific direction as to what residents should do if there is street flooding, trees and power lines down; such as providing specific telephone numbers within your organization that should be contacted.

-Remind residents that 911 is for emergencies only and that 311 or other telephone numbers should be called for non-emergency issues.

-If community events (i.e. sports, street fairs, etc.) and meetings are to take place this weekend, if the weather forecast warrants, advise your community that the events are canceled.  Providing specific direct in advance of a situation will limit the number of inbound calls your 911 Center, Recreation, Police and Fire Departments will receive from citizens inquiring about the events.

As stated above, please keep in mind that long messages tend not to be heard in their entirety, therefore a series of short duration messages are recommended for effective communications.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions at 1-800-794-3891 or support@swiftreach.com and we look forward to providing you the very best community notification service.

Sincerely,

Jeff Alward
PRWA / SwiftReach Networks