Osceola County Tech Updates Focus on Safety

Published on: May 1, 2019

PR19-23

Osceola County, Florida – Osceola County is updating mobile technology that connects citizens, families and businesses to information that helps protect and inform them.

Residents are urged to sign up for emergency messaging through a service that will contact them through telephones and e-mail. Osceola County is transitioning its alerts and notifications to a free-to-use system already in place with the State of Florida.

“We have to invest in this kind of technology because it is how more and more people are accessing information that is important to them,” said Commission Chairwoman Cheryl Grieb. “It doesn’t matter if it is Orlando City soccer results, the latest from the Capitol, or breaking weather alerts – people now rely on mobile devices to keep abreast of current events.”

AlertOsceola lets the County connect directly with residents in time of emergency: from storms to floods to hurricanes. Residents can sign up by texting AlertOsceola to 888777 – or by going online at www.osceola.org/agencies-departments/alert_osceola/.

Beyond emergencies, the system can be used to provide critical information quickly in a variety of situations, such as unexpected road closures, boil water notices, power outages, missing persons and evacuations of buildings or neighborhoods. Subscribers will receive time-sensitive messages in the way the choose, such as home, mobile or business phones, e-mail addresses and text messages.

At the recent State of Osceola address, Grieb also announced that a new version of the County’s “MyOsceola” app would soon be available – both on Google Play and the Apple App Store.

The MyOsceola mobile app was originally released in 2014, and provides citizens with an intuitive tool to stay informed and connected with Osceola County Government.  Right now the app lets citizens report local, non-emergency issues to the County through a GPS-enabled tool using pictures. This is great for reporting issues such as potholes, roadway construction and sidewalks concerns.

The new version will allow residents to subscribe to and receive notifications of County News and Emergencies. The release is expected before the first day of Hurricane Season on June 1.