The Maroon Alert System is receiving mixed reviews after severe weather rolled through Starkville Thursday afternoon.
The Maroon Alert System is a blanket of communication channels designed to alert and update Mississippi State University students, faculty and employees during times of severe weather and other emergency situations. The system includes: text messaging and instant message options to recipients’ phones or computers, a system of campus sirens, updates from campus radio station WMSV, a Web page dedicated solely to emergency updates and loudspeaker notifications around campus.According to a report published by University Relations, a Maroon Alert text message was sent to MSU’s contract provider for distribution to its 11,000 subscribers Thursday at 1:05 p.m.
The first text message warned students, faculty and staff about two tornadoes that had been spotted near Greenbriar and the Highway Patrol Station, respectively. At approximately 1:25 p.m., the MSU’s Emergency Operations Center was opened.
Vance Watson, vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine, was the on-call vice president, and served as the incident commander.
The crisis team suspended classes at 2 p.m. during the most severe point of the storm.
The announcement was also distributed to subscribers using the text messaging aspect of the Maroon Alert System.
By 2:28 p.m., the all-clear notice had been given.
Some students reported receiving confusing, incomplete text messages from the alert system. Others said they received messages advising them to seek shelter after the storm had passed through the area.
Sophomore Jessica Thames said the timing and the actual content of the Maroon Alert text messages led to confusion.
“I received the first text message around 1:30 p.m.,” Thames said. “Around 2:30, I received another message saying that the bad weather was continuing to develop, and that we should seek shelter and stay indoors. I looked out my dorm room’s window and it seemed sunny and calm then. At least two of the three messages I received were cut off at the end. Because of that, I didn’t know if there was any more important information that they were trying to send to me.”
Sophomore Lauren Leslie said she appreciated the alerts she did receive, even though she received them after the storm had passed.
“I think the system is a great way to reach students since most of us take our cell phones to class,” she said. “However, it’s too little too late when you get the messages and the storm has already run its course. I think some improvement should be done as far as sending the messages out sooner.”
The late, incomplete text messaging was not the only problem to emerge from Thursday’s events.
According to the University Relations report, the Emergency Operations Center experienced problems with the information it was receiving.
“We sometimes were receiving conflicting information about existing weather conditions,” Watson said in the release. “We will identify a central and consistent source of accurate information for the future.”
Charles Wax, geosciences professor and state climatologist, said the Emergency Operations Center experienced problems due to the rapid development of the weather and the fact that two main contacts for the center, Mike Brown and Jim Britt, were out of town.
“Information would have flowed a bit easier, but that severe weather slipped up on us so quickly that I’m unsure if things would have gone any better,” Wax said. “We’re now addressing the problem, ensuring that if someone’s out of town, we’ll have a backup here ready to fill in.