As winter weather makes its way through West Texas, the Levelland-Hockley County Emergency Management is urging residents and business owners to register for weather related and emergency notifications to stay informed and alerted in case of emergencies.
Residents are encouraged to go to RUAWARE.US to register for Hockley County Alerts. Business Owners in Hockley County can go to https://r.iinfo. com/hockleycobizcontact for business alerts.
Also, individuals are encouraged to check their wireless device has the “emergency alerts by location” turned on. That will allow notifications to come through similar to the amber alerts but are initiated locally for emergency situations such as tornado warning or dynamic police incidents.
Individuals should not assume that getting amber alerts to their phone their settings are correct for the notification; people will have to allow location alerts.
What location alert means is it will send the message based off geographical boundaries; the alert can be isolated to a specific area for only those within the preset boundary to receive the notification. This is a voluntary activation as amber alert system is not voluntary.
All alerts through this system come from local officials; never spam, solicitation calls, text messages or emails. All of the text messages will come from the same number so it can be saved in contacts to be easily recognized.
The phone calls will come through with the office of emergency management number 806-568-5487 so it can be saved and easily recognizable as well.
Severe weather conditions have been reported the past few weeks with high winds and low temperatures affecting much of the area. Community members are urged to take measures to protect themselves from the cold and be notified in the case of snow fall or frozen roadways.
Updates for Hockley County citizens can be viewed through the Hockley County-Levelland Emergency Management Facebook page. As temperatures remain in the freezing range, roadways pose a threat to early morning commuters.
Citizens are encouraged to make extra time to travel during freezing conditions as stopping is the main issue when individuals are on the road.