The city subscribes to a new emergency email notification system that can alert the subscriber to various emergency conditions that may exist or be predicted for our area, the state, or even the nation. For example, weather bulletins from the National Weather Service and emergency messages from local, state, and federal government about anything from a hazardous materials spill that may affect our area to an evacuation warning during a flood to a national defense warning. The service is known as the Emergency Email Network. By way of access from my office, I can send an email bulletin list to all subscribers in the Waynesboro area in a quick and efficient manner. The federal government may post a message that affects the east coast or the entire nation, the state government might post something that affects part or all of Virginia, or I may post something that affects only Waynesboro. I can post the email and everyone on the list will get it. It can even send text messages to text-capable pagers and PCS / cellular phones.

The nice thing about this service is that it is free, and you will only get messages that affect your area, not someone living in California (unless you want to, of course). This is because it is done by the county that you subscribe to. You can even subscribe to different counties around the country if you wanted, like an area where you own a beach home or where family lives. You can have multiple subscriptions for your computer email, pager, and text message phone.