Area residents can now receive direct messages about impending emergencies in Johnson County with the launch of NotifyJoCo, a free, mass communications system that sends alerts about incidents from evacuations to water outages, via phone, text or email. 

The system, which is free to the public, is an unprecedented effort between Johnson County, Water One, and the cities of Lenexa, Mission Hills, Olathe, Overland Park, Prairie Village and Shawnee. 

As part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, a test of the NotifyJoCo system will be conducted at 10 a.m., Tuesday, March 5.  A test message will be sent to approximately 140,000 residents and businesses in Johnson County who have published phone numbers.  Anyone who lives, works, or plays in Johnson County is encouraged to go to www.NotifyJoCo.org  to  set up their free NotifyJoCo account and personalize their contact preferences.  Account holders can identify multiple locations they want to receive emergency messages about and can sign up to receive emails, texts, or phone calls on multiple devices.  

"We are collaborating to implement a shared mass notification system that will provide quick and reliable emergency notifications to our citizens and businesses.   We want to ensure our residents are informed before, during and after significant events, such as these major snow storms we are experiencing, and that we do our part to protect the lives and property of our communities," said Ellen Wernicke, Deputy Director, Johnson County Emergency Communications Center. 

Here’s how to use the system:

• Go to www.NotifyJoCo.org to register personal contact preferences as well as locations. (For example, cities you work, or live in, or the area of your child’s school.)
• Residents who do not have internet access may call 913.826.5555 to register their information.
• All information provided will be kept confidential and only used to contact citizens about emergencies and topics in which they have expressed interest. Only authorized county and city officials will send messages.

Information will be available through County and participating municipal offices and online at www.NotifyJoCo.org . Look for Miles the Martian (mascot for NotifyJoCo). 

In the near future, participating agencies will provide additional opt-in community-based notifications such as pool closures, road construction or meeting notices, which will allow citizens to receive information about the topics they care about in their community.

[Media drop box address: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nsnuk9qboez9hpx/eIdg096PBC

Media Contacts

Johnson County - Nancy Mays, Communications Director, 913.715.0730, nancy.mays@jocogov.org

WaterOne – Mandy Cawby, Communications Manager, 913.895.5546, mcawby@waterone.org

Lenexa – Jessica Johnson, Communications Manager, 913.477.7556, jjohnson@lenexa.com

Mission Hills – Courtney Christensen, City Administrator, 913.362.9620, cchristensen@missionhillsks.gov

Olathe – Erin Vader, Communications & Public Engagement Manager, 913.971.8612, esvader@olatheks.org

Overland Park – Sean Reilly, Communications Manager, 913.895.6109, sean.reilly@opkansas.org

Prairie Village – Jeanne Koontz, Deputy City Clerk/Public Information Officer, 913.385.4662, jkoontz@pvkansas.com

Shawnee – Vicki Charlesworth, Deputy City Manager, 913.742.6242, vcharlesworth@cityofshawnee.org

Johnson County Sheriff’s Office – Deputy Tom Erickson, Public Information, 913-791-5802, tom.erickson@jocogov.org