A common concern about alerts on the FEMA App is that duplicate alerts are frequently sent. For many people, many alerts on the first alert screen seem the same. 

However, as the following examples show, what looks like duplicates at first are really not duplicates if you look closer. Viewing the highlighted parts of the following examples, you will see they are different alerts.

It is very easy to miss these differences among the number of alerts that are sent in a severe weather event unless one is looking closely.

Example 1:

The times are different on these “Update: Wind Advisory” alerts.

Example 2:

In this example, it appeared the two sets of “Update: Flood Warning” alerts from Birmingham, Alabama, are  being repeated. However, look closer at the highlighted parts of those alerts. If you compare the information in the purple and green boxes, you will see they are different alerts. If you click on each alert, the information in the next screen for these alerts were very different.

It is easy to miss these differences of alerts that are sent in a severe weather event unless one is looking closely.

Example 3:

In this example, the highlighted alerts are the same on this first screen. When you click on the numbered alerts, you will see each of the screens have completely different sets of towns listed highlighted.

We are now brainstorming ways to reconfigure the initial alerts to make it clearer that there are differences between them. If you have suggestions, please send them to the FEMA App team.