Richland County, Ohio residents receive South Carolina weather alerts
The Richland County Emergency Management Agency is investigating why emergency weather alerts for Richland County, South Carolina, were sent to individuals subscribed to the RCAlerts system in Richland County, Ohio on Thursday.
At least two text messages, two emails and two phone calls went out late Thursday afternoon and evening to alert subscribers in Richland County, Ohio about a severe thunderstorm warning in Richland County, South Carolina.
"We are actively researching the matter to ensure the proper notifications are being sent out for our county," the Richland County, Ohio Emergency Management Agency said in a statement posted to its Facebook page Thursday evening. "We apologize for the inconvenience and any confusion this may have created."
It's not known what caused the misdirected alerts or how many Richland County, Ohio residents were affected. Further updates are expected as the review continues.
Weather observation at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport in Richland County, Ohio showed clouds and fair weather conditions around the time of the alerts. No storm activity was shown at the Ohio location.
Six U.S. states have a Richland County: Ohio, South Carolina, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Louisiana is home to a similarly named Richland Parish.
The Richland County, Ohio government website shows that RCAlerts stands for the Richland County Notification System, which allows residents to sign up to receive emergency and community alerts.
"These notifications can be received on your cell phone, work phone, text message, email and home phone," it states. "This is a free service that is provided by Richland County to its residents."
The Richland County, Ohio website later adds: "Richland County cannot guarantee that notifications will be received by the intended recipient."
