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Iberville Parish emergency response notification system sends false alerts due to technical issue
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PLAQUEMINE — The Iberville Parish Government announced that its emergency response notification system had a technical issue Monday morning, sending multiple alerts to residents.
According to parish officials, the parish planned to conduct a routine monthly emergency siren test on Monday at 10 a.m. to ensure emergency notification systems were working properly.
Members of WBRZ staff received dozens of messages and calls related to the emergency response notification system on Monday morning, including a message that read, "There has been a Chemical Emergency in your area. You are advised to evacuate the area immediately."
"I was concerned at first, then I found out it was not real, and then when it kept coming back, I said maybe it is real," resident Troy Canella said.
Canella says by the time he blocked the number, he had already received around 25 calls.
"Then I had my son, who was out of town, he was calling. He goes, ‘Are y'all alright over there?’ I said, 'Seems to be,'” Canella said.
Pollyanna Beethe works at Jack Miller's Landing. She says they, too, experienced the excessive notifications.
"I think we got like 10 calls back to back. We couldn't even hang up the phone before the phone started ringing again to pick it up. That's how fast they were calling us, with multiple of them. It was always just like chemical or hurricane or tornado, trying to tell us how to evacuate," Beethe said.
The Iberville Parish Government has confirmed that there are no active emergencies at this time. Residents were asked to disregard the notifications.
"We understand that receiving an emergency notification can cause immediate concern, and we want to reassure our residents that there is no active threat or emergency at this time,” Parish President Chris Daigle said in a statement. “We apologize for the confusion and appreciate everyone’s patience as we work to address the issue.”
According to parish officials, a programming issue caused the system to issue all 300 notifications within the system rather than a single test notification.
On Monday, parish officials released the following statement:
"Situations like this are exactly why we routinely test our emergency systems. Testing allows us to identify problems, correct them, and make sure our systems are ready when a real emergency occurs. This morning’s test uncovered a programming issue that must be corrected, and we are actively working with the system to identify the cause, resolve the issue, and ensure it does not happen again."
Officials ask that residents who blocked the notification number due to the excessive number of messages unblock the number, as it is an important avenue through which the parish communicates critical information during real emergencies.
Anyone with questions should contact the Iberville Parish Emergency Preparedness at 225-687-5140.
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