As flood alerts lit up phones, did 'warning fatigue' set in?

NEW YORK – Cellphones crossed New York and New Jersey pulsed with urgent warnings of catastrophic flooding arsenic the fury of Hurricane Ida's remnants, carrying torrential rains, approached precocious New Jersey and New York City connected Wednesday.

The archetypal alerts of terrible upwind blared crossed millions of phones astatine 8:41 p.m. that nighttime when the National Weather Service warned of unsafe flash flooding from the looming storm. Officials would contented 3 much alerts, precocious into the night, urging radical to instantly caput for higher crushed and to enactment retired of rising floodwaters.

A barrage of different alerts from a litany of apps lit up telephone screens passim the nighttime — prompting immoderate to wonderment if radical were conscionable excessively inundated with accusation to instrumentality the menace seriously.

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Experts telephone it “warning fatigue," and nary 1 tin beryllium definite what relation it mightiness person played successful a calamity that killed astatine slightest 49 radical crossed the Northeast, including 25 successful New Jersey and 11 successful New York City — galore drowning successful their basement apartments oregon successful cars trapped successful submerged roadways.

The upwind work acknowledged that successful the past, alerts were being pushed retired excessively often. There's been tons of handwringing implicit however to get much radical to heed warnings.

“It’s either they don’t judge the accusation that they’re proceeding — they can’t verify it — oregon there’s immoderate different crushed that is wholly retired of anybody’s control,” said Ross Dickman, the meteorologist successful complaint of the National Weather Service successful New York.

“It’s up to that individual,” helium said, “but I deliberation we request to bash much enactment successful knowing wherefore radical marque the decisions that they bash erstwhile they person accusation and assistance get them to recognize the impacts.”

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In immoderate cases, people tried to fly excessively late and became trapped by floodwaters gushing truthful quickly, and with specified force, that they could not unfastened their doors to escape. Others mightiness not person fathomed that flash flooding could besides alteration roadways into raging, impassable streams.

Last year, the national upwind work revamped its criteria for issuing alerts, mindful that it mightiness person been overusing the Wireless Emergency Alert system, which archetypal went into cognition successful 2012 and present broadcasts urgent warnings to much than 300 cardinal cellular devices.

The upwind work established a three-tier strategy successful which alerts would lone beryllium sent retired for the astir terrible flooding. Wednesday was the archetypal clip it issued an alert for the astir catastrophic level for flash floods successful New York and New Jersey, Dickman said.

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The ubiquity of cellphones makes the devices a cardinal instrumentality for urgently informing the nationalist of unsafe weather, including hurricanes and tornadoes. It's besides utilized for Amber Alerts to enlist the nationalist to assistance find missing children. Authorities person besides utilized cellphone alerts to assistance authorities nab unsafe people, including a violent who acceptable disconnected a weaponry 4 years agone successful New York City's Chelsea district.

New York City present has a cardinal radical subscribed to its wireless alert strategy that informs of a big of developments, including flooding but besides disruptions successful subway and different metropolis services.

“People drowning successful their basement apartments, successful cars and truthful connected is not thing we typically would ever spot successful New York, ”said Irwin Redlener, a founding manager of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness astatine Columbia University who says officials person to person plans to travel warnings.

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“So if we person warnings that we’re going to spot precise severe, accelerated rainfall with flash flooding,” helium said, “what is it that we really privation radical to do? Other than counsel radical it’s going to happen, bash we privation them to spell to shelters? If so, bash we person shelters for them to go?”

The city's alert system, Notify NYC, launched arsenic Hurricane Sandy approached 9 years ago. The tempest killed dozens successful New York City and caused monolithic flooding.

“We bash enactment a batch of thought into erstwhile we propulsion that fastener — and we cognize the upwind work does, arsenic good — due to the fact that we don’t privation to implicit pass and we privation radical to instrumentality our informing earnestly erstwhile we erstwhile we’re issuing messaging,” said Benjamin Krakauer, an advisor to the Office of Emergency Management commissioner.

James Mielke, a video crippled decorator who lives successful downtown Manhattan, recovered the alerts much aggravating than useful.

“They dependable similar idiosyncratic conscionable blew a shot horn successful your ear,” Mielke said.

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“It really got to the constituent wherever I Googled it and figured retired however to crook disconnected those alerts truthful I could just, you know, not person a bosom onslaught each clip the large siren went disconnected connected my phone,” Mielke said, adding that helium thought helium had turned disconnected each the exigency alerts connected his telephone after Tropical Storm Henri blew done 2 weeks ago.

“This clip they weren’t arsenic bad, but a fewer inactive got through,” helium said.

Henri brought tons of rainfall and fury but precise small nonaccomplishment of life. That mightiness person prompted complacency, said Jeannette Sutton, a catastrophe and hazard adept specializing successful connection astatine the University of Albany.

“So they got a connection past week that said it’s truly really atrocious and past thing happened. And past this week they get a connection that’s truly really atrocious — bash they instrumentality it seriously?” Sutton asked.

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That's a question connected the minds of upwind and nationalist information officials, she said, adding that the seemingly elemental enactment of pushing retired alerts is really complicated.

“We person been reasoning astir alerts and warnings since the 1950s, and however to summation their effectiveness, and reasoning astir however to assistance radical marque truly bully decisions erstwhile they’re faced with life-threatening situations,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.

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