Lert News
January

Dear Kiwi,

A very Happy New Year to you!

We've rung in another year and probably most of us will be happy to leave 2020 far behind.

If you've been adversely affected by the events of 2020, we're sorry to hear that. As a nation though, we have shown the world, yet again, that we can punch above our weight.

Stu, one of our team, flew to Wellington for a break. He was able to run the Lert service via iPad, laptop and phone. This ability gives us more flexibility and resilience. He said the only thing different about the trip were "masks on the plane".

NZ really is a pretty good place to call home.

Thunderstorms and Flooding

The year started off wet and thundery with flooding at many locations. Several state highways were cut off. Torrential rain and hail hit.

Multiple Severe thunderstorm warnings went out. Txt users got these alerts within 1 minute.
Email-only users may have received alerts late or read them after the events had started. Sadly, this is just an inherent weakness of email and is beyond our control.

We saw many email-only subscribers change to the $2/mth txt service once we explained the difference to them. More user comments.

Damaging thunderstorms, fires, floods and so on, can develop extremely quickly and it's here that Txts are superior for alerting you immediately. In 2020 we sent around 15 evacuation alerts. Getting these late could be life threatening.

You can switch to the Premium service by - clicking here.
If you need help, just contact us. We respect whichever service you use; we just want to keep you safer by being aware of the differences.

One of our members was extremely appreciative of a txt alert for Timaru recently:
"You guys rock. Thanks for the text warning. Managed to get my car undercover. Don't need another write-off. Really appreciated all you do."
- (Anonymity requested)

App Update

app home

We are alpha-testing various aspects of our app, and have found a number of things that still need improvement. Next a number of selected users will do the beta-testing. We want you to have the best app possible.
Unfortunately there is still no date for its release, however, the app will set a new standard for alerting in NZ.

You Can Provide Alert Information

We always welcome alert information and photos of events and emergencies. Member information often reaches us sooner and is more accurate than from official sources. You'll be helping other members too. Email us at info@lert.info if you're at the scene of an event.

Facebook

Please don't be offended if we don't reply immediately to your comments or questions on Facebook/Messenger. When we're busy, it becomes difficult to reply quickly - but we do our best.

Coronavirus

There are mutated strains appearing that are 50-70%+ more infectious than the strain we first dealt with in NZ. Please continue scanning QR codes to sign in to businesses etc. The QR scanning tool is different to the Bluetooth part of the NZ Covid Tracer app, which is automatic.

Contact tracing will be the first thing officials go to when there is a new community case - especially if it's the new variant.

Covid Virus

Till next time, we wish you a much better year in 2021.

Cheers!

The Lert Info Team

Lert.info
Alerting New Zealand

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