When it was launched in 2013, the Everbridge Alert System was intended to be a way for residents of the city to receive notifications about severe weather events, as well as updates on things like road closures and maintenance from the city. For the most part, the system has performed just as expected, with the alerts coming in the case of emergencies via phone call, email and text, and for many less urgent alerts, in just the form of a text or email.

With a number of storms rolling through Weyburn in recent weeks, many were wondering why the Everbridge system didn’t issue any alerts. This, after storms have dumped nearly 100 millimetres of rain on the Opportunity City in the past week.

Claude Morin, the superintendent of Public Works and Parks with the City of Weyburn, explained while the storms have brought a lot of rain, it wasn’t an emergency situation for the city. Additionally, there were warnings issued by Environment Canada.

“People will become too accustomed to it, and won’t pay attention so we don’t want to overuse it in that event,” Morin said. “We also feel, at the end of the day, that Environment Canada is the ultimate authority in issuing weather notifications, so we don’t want to muddy the waters.”

In weather situations like tornados, or severe flooding, Morin said the system would be used to get information out to everyone as soon as possible. For other emergency situations, the Everbridge system would be used as well.

With the pending rollout nationwide of the Ready Alert system, Morin added have duplicate warnings about thunderstorms may not be beneficial, either, as there would be the risk of a contradicting statement.