[EAS] San Jose CA midnight evacuation order

[Eric Adler]

"Most people put their phones in drawers and wouldn't hear a WEA message. "

As a 30-something, my cellphone is my alarm clock.  The same holds for most of my peers, including some that have flip phones.  Sure, there are some who shut their phones completely at night and some who keep their phones out of reach but I wouldn't claim that either case (able to be alerted by WEA or not) is a majority of people.  A geotargetted mobile alert for an event with hard geographic bounds (like an evacuation) seems useful, even if it only gets a portion of the population.  That said, remembering when we had evacuations here for impending flood, I think that the emergency management folks were likely stretched thin trying to actively announce and evacuate in person and a not-quite-as-active form of communication might not be on their radar or the best use of their time if it is (and that decision is best left to them). 

Eric