At the most recent Highlands Town Board meeting, Councilman Joe DeWitt urged all community residents – both Highland Falls and Fort Montgomery – to sign up for the local emergency alert systems.

“The other day CBS Morning News did a great story about the damage that was done in the Carolinas and Georgia, etc. by the last two hurricanes,” he said. “And something that came up is that a lot of people didn’t know the landslides were coming. Or they didn’t know the tornadoes were coming. Those alerts can be on cell phones, so you have to have your emergency alerts activated.”

He said, like Amber Alerts, those can be turned on or off on a phone.

“That way if there is a disaster coming in your direction, you’ll get information about that,” he said.

On iPhones, if you go to Settings, Notifications and then scroll down, you’ll see Government Alerts, where you can manage Amber Alerts, Emergency Alerts, Public Safety Alerts and Test Alerts. On Androids, you can open Settings, tap Notifications and select Wireless Emergency Alerts, and manage those same categories.

DeWitt went on to add that on a local level it’s very important to subscribe to both the Town of Highlands and Highland Falls emergency alert systems.

“We have both emergency and public alerts,” he said. “They’re really very helpful for not only weather events, but also road closures, parades, garbage not getting picked up because of a holiday, and especially emergency situations.”

The online addresses to sign up for either – or both – community alert systems are below. DeWitt added that anyone who needs help can contact Town Hall (845-446-4280) or Village Hall (845-446-3400).

Town of Highlands: Visit highlands-ny.gov, and scroll down to ‘Text and Email Alerts’. There you can choose to receive text and/or email alerts, and there are several alert groups available, including Town News, Highway and Sanitation Information, and Recreation. All three can be selected if you want.

Highland Falls: Visit highlandfallsny.org and scroll down to Community Alert Text Messaging System. You will be guided through the sign-up process.