All employees, faculty, staff and students at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine will receive a tornado warning test alert Wednesday, March 25, at approximately 10 a.m. Central time. The test of the med center’s emergency alert system will be held in conjunction with the National Weather Service Severe Weather Awareness Week and the Nebraska statewide tornado drill.
In planning for this test of the emergency alert system and the mock drill, individuals and departments should do the following:
- Log in to UNMC Alert prior to the test to verify and update contact information.
- Understand the difference between a tornado watch (be alert as conditions are favorable for tornadoes to form) and a tornado warning (take cover because a tornado has been sighted or radar indicates rotation in the clouds).
- Consult the emergency procedures posted in classrooms and hallways to determine the closest tornado shelter/severe weather safe area.
- Use the drill to practice how to respond in a “real world” event and, afterward, identify opportunities to improve the plan.
- Develop a communication plan for work and for home.
- Make an emergency kit or, if one already exists, check to see if it needs to be updated or replenished.
For the mock drill, UNMC faculty, staff and students will receive an email from UNMCAlert@alerts.unmc.edu, which will appear as UNMC Alert in their inbox. This is a legitimate email from UNMC Alert. Verify and update contact info to receive accurate UNMC Alerts for emergency notifications.
In addition to the email, faculty, staff and students will receive a voice call from 402-559-5100 and a text message with a similar message to what appears in the email above. The message also will appear on digital signage, websites, computer crawlers (desktop alerts), Voalte phones and through push alerts from the UNMC Alert app.
The UNMC Alert app can be downloaded to phones from the Apple Store or Google Play Store. If someone does not receive the alerts as expected, log in to UNMC Alert at this alert system link to verify and update contact information.
After receiving the email, follow the embedded link to complete a survey about the drill and share feedback.
As a part of this test, UNMC and Nebraska Medicine computers will display a tornado watch crawler message at 9:45 a.m. and a tornado warning crawler message at 10 a.m. Voalte phones will receive a similar alert. This test will be repeated at 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. for night shift colleagues on UNMC and Nebraska Medicine computers and Voalte phones only. The evening test will not include email, text and voice call alerts.
As emergencies arise in the future, faculty, staff and students can expect to receive similar alerts in these modalities depending on the situation. Updated contact information is key to timely delivery of alerts.
Emergency Management thanks everyone in advance for their participation in this tornado drill and acknowledgement of Severe Weather Awareness Week.