MoretonAlert storm warning fail ... again

Moreton Bay City Council’s MoretonAlert system again failed to warn residents of an approaching severe thunderstorm on Monday afternoon.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issued a severe thunderstorm warning shortly after 6pm for heavy rain and hail for areas including the City of Moreton Bay.

MoretonAlert did not send residents a warning message. Council has confirmed it is investigating.

It comes after a MoretonAlert warning for ‘damaging wind, hail, lightning and heavy rainfall’ was sent to residents well after storms had passed on October 24. And follows backlash earlier this month when BOM did not issue warnings ahead of another severe storm, which caused damage at areas including Morayfield.

With more storms forecast later this week, we asked Moreton Bay City Council why MoretonAlert is not working and what council is doing to fix it.

A Council spokeswoman said the warning delays were “not caused by Council, but by external factors within our third-party provider's network that are still being investigated”.

“Council is in regular contact with our provider, who are actively working to resolve this issue relating specifically to storm alerts.

“All other warnings issued by MoretonAlert, including flood and bushfire alerts, will continue to be issued as normal and can be relied upon.

“City of Moreton Bay expects the highest quality service when it comes to working with providers to help keep our community safe and will continue to demand a better service from the provider.”

MoretonAlert has more than 76,000 subscribers and is a free SMS, email and voice alerting system which is designed to provide weather and bushfire warning messages, Council-prescribed burn notifications, potential flash flooding incidents and planned dam releases within the region.

Messages include basic information about the type of emergency, the level of threat and recommended action to take.

Residents have been urged to register for the alerts following weather, flood and fire emergencies in recent years. The alerts aim to give residents time to prepare and save lives.

The Council spokeswoman said residents should use the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) as their primary source for weather alerts.

“All residents can access storm alert services and weather warnings via the BOM app or website,” she said.

“Residents can also access active BOM warnings displayed on the Council Disaster Dashboard at www.disaster.moretonbay.qld.gov.au.

“With weather being unpredictable, we encourage residents to monitor conditions and use BOM reports to ensure they are not caught out during this severe weather season.”