It’s an imperfect system, but Arlington Alert remains Arlington County’s go-to way of informing tens of thousands of residents about local emergencies.
The county’s emergency communication system, which counts over 35,000 members of the public as users, is designed to keep people informed about local traffic, hazardous weather and other major events.
Poor regional coordination and outdated technology led to inconsistent messaging during Arlington’s boil water notice earlier this month, county staff say.
Confusion began after D.C. Water was the first to issue a boil water notice the night of July 3, due to potential contamination caused by algae blooms in the Potomac River.
The next year will see some important steps forward as Arlington County looks to uncouple law enforcement from its response to homelessness and behavioral health crises.
In 2024, the county will implement new protocols and a call system to ensure people experiencing behavioral health crises — due to a mental illness, substance use disorder or disability — receive services rather than get arrested and jailed.
Arlington County is developing an alert system aimed at improving its emergency response to behavioral health crises.
The aim of the system, dubbed the Marcus Alert, is to keep people in crisis — due to a mental illness, substance use disorder or intellectual and developmental disabilities — from being arrested and booked in jail.
Mistargeted Alert Wakes Up Arlingtonians — Numerous Arlington residents from around the county erroneously received an emergency phone alert about a boil water advisory in Northeast D.C. around 2 a.m. Thursday morning. [Twitter]
Huske Talks About Olympic Experience — “By coming so close to winning an individual medal, then earning a second-place silver on a relay team, Torri Huske’s rated her recent swimming experience at the Summer Olympic Games as a success for the 2021 Yorktown High School graduate. ‘It was all a really good learning experience, and I took a lot away from the Games, like needing to work on the little things,’ Huske said. ‘The swimming was different that anything I had been to before because it was spread out over nine or 10 days. I’m very thankful for what I got to do.'” [Sun Gazette]
Memorial Ride for Arlington Cyclist — A memorial ride is planned tonight in D.C. for Arlington resident Thomas Hollowell, who was killed while riding his bike to work last week near the intersection of 12th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. [Facebook]
Master Bike Plan for Arlington — Planners are putting the finishing touches on which bike infrastructure projects to include in Arlington County’s updated master plan. Currently in: the Army Navy Country Club Connector. Currently out: a connection from the Marine Corps War Memorial to the Roosevelt Bridge. [TheWashCycle]
The average warning time for a tornado is 13 minutes. Would you be able to get your family to safety in 13 minutes? Would more time help?
The National Weather Service issues weather Watches when the potential for a weather incident exists, but how would you find out?
(Updated at 6 p.m.) Virginia State Police have issued an “Amber Alert” for a 12-year-old girl they believe was abducted from Reagan National Airport today (Thursday).
Police believe JinJing Ma is in “extreme danger” after a woman led her away from the arrivals area of the airport earlier today. Ma had just arrived from China as part of a tour group at the time of the alleged abduction.
Arlington County and the rest of the D.C. metropolitan area is under a Code Orange alert today (Friday) for its air quality.
With temperatures and humidity expected to build today and continue through the Fourth of July holiday, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments issued its alert, warning that sensitive groups could be affected and should avoid strenuous activity or outdoor exercise.
ACPD Anti-DUI Event During Bar Crawl — The Arlington County Police Department will be holding an interactive anti-drunk driving event from noon to 5 p.m. during Saturday’s Halloween bar crawl in Clarendon. Part of N. Hudson Street will be closed as a result of the anti-DUI event. [Arlington County]
Dems Hoping for 100,000 Clinton Votes — Arlington Democrats are hoping their get-out-the-vote efforts result in 100,000 votes for Hillary Clinton in the county. Arlington could be the difference-maker in the race, determining whether Clinton wins or loses the key swing state of Virginia. In 2008 Barack Obama won 82,119 votes in Arlington. [InsideNova]
Sprint mobile phone customers may get a busy signal in Arlington and other parts of the D.C. region when they try to make an emergency call.
The Arlington Alerts system issued the following notice shortly after noon today.
The new system will be live on June 25, as part of the region-wide Capitalert.gov system.
Users can determine how they receive an alert, such as via text message, email, cell phone, land line, instant message or fax, according to Arlington Office of Emergency Management spokesman John Crawford.
