G'day Kiwi!

We hope you had a great Xmas and that 2024 will be a good year for you.
Well, what a way to finish the year - yet another destructive thunderstorm and early hot temperatures that continued through January.

Severe Thunderstorms

Over the last 30 years, thunderstorms have become becoming more frequent and violent. Some are extremely fast moving. Pre Xmas, one caused significant damage in the Hutt Valley. It was travelling at 40kph over the South Island, and once over Cook Strait, sped up to 50kph without land resistance.

Lert Info was tracking this and were first to send alerts to Wellington members giving them 15 minutes warning they were about to be hit. However, only members on our txt service would have had their phones ring in time. Members told us we were accurate to within 5 minutes.
When fast information is essential, TXT beats e-mail every time. Click here to upgrade.

Preparing for Emergencies

We're introducing a tool this year you will find helpful: Pre-Emergency Check Lists

These bullet point reminders on how to prepare for - Severe Thunderstorms, Tropical cyclones, Wind events, Rain Events etc. They will be printable so you can quickly reference them.

Our Facebook Group

In September 2023 we set up a Facebook Group page. The response has been absolutely fantastic and the group is growing rapidly. We don't post directly to our Facebook business page anymore. Group posts go "viral" 50% of the time, which means you're much more likely to see them. Over the 12yrs we have had a Facebook Page, we have only had 3 viral posts The group has had 20 in just 4 months!

What Makes a Great Alert System?

In a nutshell:

• Common sense
• Critical thinking
• Speed
• Accuracy
• Reliability
• Accurate targeting of affected areas
• Anticipation of how things could develop
• Pushing alerts directly to people by e-mail or txt
• A system that has human operators and is NOT Automated

Lert Info is the only alerting service providing all the above.

Facebook Fails as an Alerting System

With the changes in Facebook, it is now totally unsuitable for real-time alerting, though still OK for additional information. You'll see less than 20% of Facebook posts, and you will never know. Post also often arrive hours after they're posted. It's the Facebook algorithm doing this. The solution - our push alerts.

Heat Alerts

Heat can be a killer; even in New Zealand.

Many people don't realise the fine line between heat exhusation and heat stroke, and what can be done to stay safe. Our Heat Alerts are issued when three close locations reach 32° or a Humidex of 40. Alerts are localised to areas as small as a suburb so we don't annoy you when you only have 30°.
Drinking water only just part of rehydration. You also need to include salts and minerals.

Please Share Our Service

Word of mouth is the best recommendation, so if you feel we're worthy of a mention to your friends and family, we can keep them updated like just like you. Just share this newsletter and tell them to visit www.lert.info

Till next time, stay safe, stay well.

The Lert Info Team