Carteret CodeRED

BEAUFORT - In the first test of Carteret County's newest method of getting urgent information out to the public, nearly 46,000 phone calls were made to citizens within an hour.

There was no emergency as the first calls were made but the CodeRED Emergency Notification System is now available to the Carteret County Emergency Services Office if it is ever needed.

With the 2008 hurricane season upon us, it could mean a quick way of notifying the public of evacuations or other emergency information related to a storm event.

"I've been very impressed with the program. It gives us the capability of notifying more citizens with urgent information," said Emergency Services Director Jo Ann Smith.

The county has had the CodeRED service since late 2007 but this will mark the first full hurricane season that it has been in use.

A test of the system was conducted May 21 as part of a statewide hurricane preparedness exercise, at which time messages were sent out countywide to ensure the service is working properly.

"At 9:57 a.m. the calls started and they were completed by 10:43 a.m. In less than an hour, we had called 45,880 numbers," Smith said.

Of the initial calls made, about 50 percent were answered in person or by an answering machine. In the remaining cases, it was likely that the line was busy or the person did not have an answering machine, Smith said.

The service redialed approximately 23,000 numbers, at which time another 3,551 calls were answered.

In all, Smith said, messages were received by about 53 percent of the phone numbers in the database.

While not every call may have been answered, she said, the CodeRED system is another means of getting information to the public in an emergency situation. The service adds to traditional methods of notification such as television, radio and newspapers.

The database being used for the system includes all listed land-line phone numbers. Residents can also register other phone numbers, such as mobile phone numbers.

To check your current information or add additional phone numbers, go to www.carteretcountygov.org and click on the CodeRED link or call the Carteret County Emergency Services Office at 252-728-8470.