Alert system at the ready for residents of East Dundee

East Dundee residents no longer have to wait for a storm siren or a radio alert to know when trouble is lurking in their neighborhoods.

Village leaders have started a telephone and e-mail program to tell residents when they should take cover from a storm or boil water from a broken pipe. It was a devastating and flooding rainstorm last August that prompted village trustees to look into the alerts, Police Chief Terry Mee said.

"By calling people and e-mailing them we can let them know what action to take," Mee said. "We can inform them of Amber Alerts, hazardous situations and dangerous storms. It will not be used for telephone surveys or advertising."

An Amber Alert tells the public when a child has been reported missing or abducted.

Last week, officials tested the system by making 1,500 telephone calls and sending e-mail messages. That is about half of the number of residents who live in East Dundee.

Many of the calls were made to home phones; some were made to cell phones.

"By contacting people, we had a 77 percent success rate. We had a few wrong telephone numbers and a handful of people told us they didn't want to participate," Mee said. "People can call us and change how they want to be contacted. Some people might want us to call their cell phones."

Preferred method of contact changes can be made by calling the village hall at (847) 426-2822.

If alert calls go to cell phones, residents will know of the problems when they aren't home. But they have to have the cell phone on to receive such calls quickly.

East Dundee officials will still use the storm sirens and the community sign at the corner of North River Street and Route 72 to tell residents of pending problems.

In August, when the drenching thunderstorm struck northern Kane County, rain fell faster than storm sewers could take in. Streets and basements flooded, trees toppled and overhead power lines fell. Angry residents complained to village officials they weren't given enough notice to protect their property.

With this system, East Dundee is following a similar one in West Dundee. Leaders in that village have had an e-mail alert system in place for years, said village clerk Barb Haines. Rainy weather also was the force that pushed West Dundee officials to enact it.

"We started it by telling people where they can get sandbags (to protect their property from water)," she said.

"We don't have a telephone alert system, though."