Providence will retire its rarely-used emergency sirens, moving fully digital
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Providence isn't prone to tsunamis, but has experienced
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'Unless you are right next to it, and outdoors, you really can't tell what the person is saying,' Decerbo said. Indoors, it can only be heard within a half mile. And when the city conducted its regular tests of the sirens, people asked: 'what am I supposed to do when I hear a siren?'
The city is now rolling out its new emergency alert plan starting Sept. 1, which includes decommissioning the sirens and streamlining the protocols for two types of digital alerts: one that comes to your phone automatically for life-threatening emergencies, and a second opt-in system for public information that is not life-or-death.
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The recent
Under the new operating procedure, a short list of people — including Decerbo, Mayor Brett Smiley, the fire and police chiefs and their deputies — can call the Rhode Island Emergency Management agency to send a Wireless Emergency Alert for a life-threatening emergency that requires an evacuation or shelter in place. (This system is already used for AMBER Alerts and National Weather Service warnings.)
The city has pre-crafted messages in English and Spanish, which would then be pushed automatically to cellphones in the selected geographic area.
Wireless emergency alerts should be turned on by default, though people can double-check in their phone settings that the sound is on so they can be woken up for a middle-of-the-night evacuation. (While reporting at the emergency management agency, a Globe reporter discovered she had silenced her own alerts.)
The existing
Clara Decerbo, Providence's emergency management director, can send a CodeRED alert from her computer.
Steph Machado/Globe Staff
The wireless alerts are useful in a life-threatening emergency like street flooding, for example, when the most dangerous place to be is in a car. Someone passing through Providence when flash flooding hits might not get a CodeRED alert, which is based on their address, but would get the wireless emergency alert.
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While relying on cellphones is not a perfect system — power can go out, and phones can die — installing citywide sirens would be prohibitively expensive, Decerbo said, and still wouldn't solve the issue of residents deciphering what action to take if they hear a siren.
Outdoor sirens are no longer considered a key component to emergency alert systems, especially outside of the tornado alley region in the central US, and civil defense sirens that once warned of air raids have been dismantled in most places.
Once Providence decommissions its sirens, the only Rhode Island municipality that will still have them is Warren, a coastal town that installed two sirens for weather-related alerts several years ago.
Brown University has its own private sirens, which were
In Massachusetts, the only outdoor sirens still in use are in the towns within 10 miles of the
Massachusetts also uses the
Decommissioning the sirens will save Providence $20,000 to $30,000 a year in maintenance, plus the system was due for a pricey upgrade that would have cost $250,000, Decerbo said.
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If something happened in the middle of the night, like the Texas flooding event, the backup plan to the phone alerts would be to send police and firefighters to evacuation areas and go door-to-door and use megaphones.
The Texas flooding has prompted scrutiny over the warning system there, and concerns about cuts at the National Weather Service, which sends alerts about severe weather.
Decerbo said she is 'very concerned' about national cuts to
The city also contracts with meteorologist Steve Cascione, a former TV broadcaster, to help inform the city's emergency decisions.
'Texas is a really tragic and catastrophic example of how important public alert and warning is, and we want everyone to be aware of what we're doing,' Decerbo said.
Steph Machado can be reached at
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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
Providence will retire its rarely-used emergency sirens, moving fully digital
'It could have actually further confused people,' Decerbo said in an interview with the Globe. The tragedy 'renewed the discourse about public alert and warning' across the country, she said. Advertisement Providence isn't prone to tsunamis, but has experienced Get Rhode Island News Alerts Sign up to get breaking news and interesting stories from Rhode Island in your inbox each weekday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Unless you are right next to it, and outdoors, you really can't tell what the person is saying,' Decerbo said. Indoors, it can only be heard within a half mile. And when the city conducted its regular tests of the sirens, people asked: 'what am I supposed to do when I hear a siren?' The city is now rolling out its new emergency alert plan starting Sept. 1, which includes decommissioning the sirens and streamlining the protocols for two types of digital alerts: one that comes to your phone automatically for life-threatening emergencies, and a second opt-in system for public information that is not life-or-death. Advertisement The recent Under the new operating procedure, a short list of people — including Decerbo, Mayor Brett Smiley, the fire and police chiefs and their deputies — can call the Rhode Island Emergency Management agency to send a Wireless Emergency Alert for a life-threatening emergency that requires an evacuation or shelter in place. (This system is already used for AMBER Alerts and National Weather Service warnings.) The city has pre-crafted messages in English and Spanish, which would then be pushed automatically to cellphones in the selected geographic area. Wireless emergency alerts should be turned on by default, though people can double-check in their phone settings that the sound is on so they can be woken up for a middle-of-the-night evacuation. (While reporting at the emergency management agency, a Globe reporter discovered she had silenced her own alerts.) The existing Clara Decerbo, Providence's emergency management director, can send a CodeRED alert from her computer. Steph Machado/Globe Staff The wireless alerts are useful in a life-threatening emergency like street flooding, for example, when the most dangerous place to be is in a car. Someone passing through Providence when flash flooding hits might not get a CodeRED alert, which is based on their address, but would get the wireless emergency alert. Advertisement While relying on cellphones is not a perfect system — power can go out, and phones can die — installing citywide sirens would be prohibitively expensive, Decerbo said, and still wouldn't solve the issue of residents deciphering what action to take if they hear a siren. Outdoor sirens are no longer considered a key component to emergency alert systems, especially outside of the tornado alley region in the central US, and civil defense sirens that once warned of air raids have been dismantled in most places. Once Providence decommissions its sirens, the only Rhode Island municipality that will still have them is Warren, a coastal town that installed two sirens for weather-related alerts several years ago. Brown University has its own private sirens, which were In Massachusetts, the only outdoor sirens still in use are in the towns within 10 miles of the Massachusetts also uses the Decommissioning the sirens will save Providence $20,000 to $30,000 a year in maintenance, plus the system was due for a pricey upgrade that would have cost $250,000, Decerbo said. Advertisement If something happened in the middle of the night, like the Texas flooding event, the backup plan to the phone alerts would be to send police and firefighters to evacuation areas and go door-to-door and use megaphones. The Texas flooding has prompted scrutiny over the warning system there, and concerns about cuts at the National Weather Service, which sends alerts about severe weather. Decerbo said she is 'very concerned' about national cuts to The city also contracts with meteorologist Steve Cascione, a former TV broadcaster, to help inform the city's emergency decisions. 'Texas is a really tragic and catastrophic example of how important public alert and warning is, and we want everyone to be aware of what we're doing,' Decerbo said. Steph Machado can be reached at
Hamilton Spectator
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Barcelona residents fear sea level rise is swallowing their beloved beaches
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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
If a neighbor's water runoff damages your property, are they liable in NY?
Your neighbor decides to blacktop a driveway once covered with grass that acted as a sponge, sopping up rainwater. But after a deluge, water comes rushing into your basement. Can you sue your neighbor? Sure. But you may not win. What are NY's laws on water runoff? New York State law on the topic has evolved through the years. In the old days, under English common law, water was once viewed as a common enemy. And as with any enemy, homeowners had the right to defend themselves by, for instance, digging ditches to redirect the natural flow of water away from their property even if water might flow onto someone else's property. Stay safe Tips for motorists to stay safe during flooding. Watch the video. But development creates more conflicts and courts were increasingly being asked to act as a referee. Here's how Darrell W. Harp, the former chief counsel to the state Department of Transportation, described it in a 2015 report for the Cornell Local Roads Program, New York State Local Technical Assistance Program Center: 'The 'common-enemy rule' was generally modified so that a lower landowner was not normally entitled to cast back surface waters by damming a natural watercourse, and an upland owner was not entitled to artificially collect surface waters and discharge them in a mass upon the land below to its damage (e.g., by piping or draining into ditches so that surface waters released on lower land caused erosion or flooding).' Simply put, the law changed through the years to consider the damage that altering the natural flow of water could have on a neighbor's property. A 'reasonable' standard on where you're sending water 'The courts pretty much said let's be reasonable about this,' said David Orr, who heads the Cornell Local Roads Program and fields these sorts of questions from highway departments and homeowners. That led to the "reasonable use" standard. Basically, you should not knowingly make decisions on your property that'll cause water to flow onto your neighbor's property. Here's Orr's take on what's reasonable and what's not: 'If I've got a piece of property and I want to put a road to go up to the back half of it, do I have a right to do that. Well, yeah, you do. Do I have a right to cross a stream? Yeah, but I might need to put a culvert in. In fact, there may be a requirement from an environmental standpoint… If I create a gulley that washes into somebody's property, no. If I back water up onto somebody else's property or keep the water down? No, that's not good either. That's the reasonableness factor.' DIY: Check out deals from Home Depot for home improvement, repairs, and everything else by clicking here Groundbreaking decision in water runoff dispute The leading New York case on the topic — Kossoff v. Rathgeb-Walsh — came out of the village of Pelham in Westchester County in 1958. In that case a landowner put a gas station on his property, causing water to seep into a neighbor's basement. The lot was raised and blacktopped, which sped the flow of water onto a neighbor's property, damaging property in the basement, according to the decision. The gas station owner did not install pipes, drains or ditches and acted in good faith to improve his property. The lawsuit was tossed. As Harp writes: 'The thing to remember is that reasonable blacktopping, paving, grading, improvements, or construction done in good faith that disturbs the natural flow of surface water drainage to the damage of a lower owner is not actionable unless the drainage is artificially caused to be collected in a mass, as in a pipe, ditch or drain.' Of course, facts matter. Some cases are closer calls than others. Best to consult an attorney. Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA Today Network's New York State team. He's won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that's included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 'Common-enemy rule': Can homeowners sue neighbors for water runoff damage? Solve the daily Crossword
