The Internet offers a nearly inexhaustible source of information concerning storm warnings and severe weather forecasting. Please be aware that Internet sources of warning are not as dependable as the other systems referenced on this website. Information received from sources on the Internet is subject to delays and may not arrive soon enough to provide an adequate warning. In addition, your ability to receive information through the Internet requires the operation of numerous systems, some of which are completely beyond our control. The Internet should be considered as an additional source of information and should not be considered as the primary source of emergency warning for life-threatening events.
The private marketplace offers a wide variety of warning services, primarily weather-related on a fee-for-service basis.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media is more commonly being used to share emergency information and younger people are turning to social media sites as their primary source of information. During both the Virginia Tech shootings and the Haiti earthquake, it was reported that much of the information was available on social media sites well before news agencies could report it.
For this reason, emergency management professionals are utilizing it as another tool to share emergency information and warning. In our area, the National Weather Service - Fort Worth forecast office is utilizing Facebook to share emergency weather information as well as gather storm reports from citizens. You can find out more information on their Facebook page. You can also follow our Ellis County Facebook page.
TWITTER
Ellis County has chosen to use Twitter as its social media source for sharing information. Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets." These short messages allow the data to be packaged and sent quickly and via SMS to mobile phones. During a disaster, this is sometimes the only way to communicate as lines quickly become overwhelmed with callers. Follow us on Twitter!
Twitter Text Alerts
If you’d like to follow us and get our Tweets delivered to your phone, you must first sign up for a Twitter account. Once you have an account, you can send a message to your Twitter code with the command.