Whether Warning: Governments struggle to develop effective alerts for natural disasters

Alert fatigue (inattention due to previous predictions that haven’t come to pass) is a real concern for emergency management professionals, and some experts are working to solve this problem. According to an article in Stateline, the classifications used by the National Weather Service to designate flash flood warnings will be changed this September to indicate whether the threat is considerable (urgent action needed for preservation of life and property) or catastrophic (a threat to life and cause of disastrous damage), based on local weather, radar evidence and historically relevant conditions. After the system is rolled out, there will be a reduction in cellphone flood warnings to only those two categories, representing less than 10% of the 12,000 flood warnings now issued every year to cellphones and local authorities, Daniel Roman, a Maryland-based hydrologist at the National Weather Service told Stateline. “The idea is that you cut back on the number, so you don’t get the public desensitized,” Roman said. Routine flood warnings will go out over other methods. 

Source: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/07/09/how-disaster-warnings-can-get-your-attention