Get FEMA emergency alerts, updates via text message

Receive news about impeding hurricanes, winter storms, severe cold snaps and other emergency situations by signing up for text message updates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The service sends brief text messages to your cellphone on specific topics you have previously selected. For example, you can sign up to get messages about hurricanes by texting the word HURRICANE to 43362, which is FEMA's dedicated text number. Similarly, you can get information on power outages by texting the word BLACKOUT to the same number.

If an emergency occurs and you need to evacuate your home, texting the word SHELTER along with your ZIP code (for example, SHELTER 11747) to 43362 will get you a list of nearby emergency shelters.

For a tutorial on how the program works and all the keywords you can text to FEMA, go to nwsdy.li/fematext.