County has new emergency alert system

By Terry Murry on Friday, October 21st, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

UMATILLA COUNTY – Umatilla County has a new system for pushing out emergency alerts via text and email to county residents. U-M Alert is a part of OR Alert. Commissioner Dan Dorran said that 35 of Oregon’s 36 counties are now signed up with the new system. The only county not registered is Malheur, due to issues with its shared border with Idaho.

“We are up and running. U-M Alert is the only alert system we have,” Dorran said. “We can geofence and administratively identify different areas.”

Dorran said that the new alert system appears to work well and is less expensive than Alert Sense was. People can sign up for it now.

“It is on the website right now,” he said. “It’s up on the top toolbar. Just go under U-M Alert and fill out the form.”

Dorran advises everyone to register. Subscribers to Alert Sense were supposed to be rolled over into the new service, but he said that there are reports of that not working consistently.

“It’s better just to start fresh,” he said.

The link to the new alert system is https://member.everbridge.net/2590041373147145/login.