County officials studying ways to improve getting emergency information to the public

Winneshiek County supervisors spent time Monday discussing how to improve the response to the next flooding.

Their questions centered on additional ways to get information to the public, including phone trees or "Code Red" software that would send warnings to cell phones.

Supervisor Dean Thompson urged the Emergency Government office that when it has information, it should "put it up on the Web."  During the recent flooding, the information was posted on Facebook pages owned by the county, but not on the regular county website.

Supervisor Mark Kuhn says lack of information could cause problems.  For instance, the 4-H Campground along the Upper Iowa River did not receive alerts.  County officials say the practice of sending out warnings that would start monitors beeping has been changed because of changing technology.

Supervisors will meet again in two weeks to revisit the issue.