[EAS] Suffolk Co, NY EAS mishap

[Adrienne Abbott]

People have to be listening when emergency information is presented. The
overuse or poor use of EAS is a growing problem. Our Las Vegas stations
received 27 EAS activations between Aug. 22 and Aug. 26, including 12
activations that were issued on Aug. 22. These were for Severe Thunderstorm
Warnings and Flash Flood Warnings in various areas of Clark County. Only a
couple of these activations actually applied to the Las Vegas valley where
some intersections and freeway ramps were flooded. People were
inconvenienced, traffic was gridlocked but there were no deaths and no
serious damage. Sometimes these activations are issued so quickly the
equipment does not have time to finish the first activation and instead
dumps out of the message to carry the second activation. 

Earlier this year three people were killed in Flash Floods that swamped the
"washes", the system of drainage canals that lace Sin City. Most of the
time, the washes are dry. Two of these people were "homeless", part of the
population who live in and around the washes. One official told me they
probably had cell phones and could have received the WEA messages and/or the
alerts the TV and radio stations blasted out as "Breaking News". 

Unfortunately we are seeing an EAS overload problem in Las Vegas and other
communities around Nevada. EAS has reached the level of the car alarm here
and no one really listens anymore, especially during the Monsoon Season. I
am currently dealing with an unhappy cable subscriber who doesn't understand
why he can't watch a service for which he has paid good money without having
shows interrupted two or three times by EAS messages. The "Message Flooding"
situation has reached the point where some broadcasters have stopped
carrying weather-related EAS activations. Some cable companies have made
similar decisions. Other broadcasters and providers say they are worried
about the possibility of ending up in court because they did not carry a
weather activation so they carry everything and suffer the ratings loss as
well. In a state with a very high ratio of lawyers to regular people, the
concern is valid. 250$ and your good looks will get you a lawsuit in most
Nevada courts. 

The closest thing to a solution we have is to subdivide Clark County, which
is a little over 8,000 square miles in size, with barely 2% of that area
covered with water. By comparison, Suffolk County is 912 square land miles,
with another 1400 square miles or so of water. Clark County includes several
mountain ranges, one with several peaks over 10,000 feet as well as Hoover
Dam and the Colorado River. We get it all. A major storm can blanket
Searchlight at the southern end of the county while the sun shines brightly
over the Las Vegas Strip. Subdividing the county will be a considerable
improvement in the weather warning situation; unfortunately, the project is
not a priority for the Weather Service.  

Adrienne Abbott
Nevada EAS Chair
NVBA  ABIP  Inspector

Do counties in tornado country sound the sirens for every emergency,
including advisories about bad weather tomorrow?

Or do do emergency managers use different tools and types of communication
channels in different ways for different events?