The primary goal of the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency (LEMA) is to prepare local residents for emergencies, from severe weather conditions to man-made disasters. The organization seeks to accomplish this by identifying potential hazards, providing training resources, developing emergency action plans and working with other emergency management agencies at the federal and state levels.

LEMA uses a notification system called LANC-Alert to send real-time updates to Lancaster County residents during emergencies. The alert system uses phone calls, text messaging and emails to keep people informed, and many other emergency management agencies utilize similar procedures. Unlike many other agencies, however, LEMA faces the added component of serving Amish and Mennonite communities that have limited access to electronic communication.

To better serve Lancaster County's unique communities, LEMA is in the process of creating a severe weather alert system for those who do not have access to LANC-Alert notifications. The idea was proposed by the National Weather Service, which receives thousands of calls every year from members of Plain communities who are concerned about severe forecasts and the threat that they pose to crops. The new system, which LEMA hopes to implement in the spring, will allow residents to opt in for emergency landline notifications by submitting a physical form.

LEMA took the idea to the Amish Safety Committee to assess which types of alerts Plain community members are most interested in, such as warnings for severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and flooding. Although LEMA is still developing a distribution plan, the organization will hand out opt-in forms at mud sales, farm and family safety days and other local events.

"This is part of a whole community approach. We're trying to think of all the different groups in the area and how to best prepare them for emergencies," said Brooke Bowman, community resilience coordinator and volunteer liaison at LEMA. "The National Weather Service brought this idea to us as a guinea pig project because of how large the Plain community is here."

Until 2021, LEMA worked with the South Central Task Force to send mass calls and text alerts via a reverse 911 system. After the system became inactive, LEMA used funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to create LANC-Alert, which it implemented in December 2023. "We've been rolling out the English community side of it more seamlessly. Lancaster County residents can sign up from their devices and choose which alerts they want to receive," said LEMA hazardous materials administrator Zachary Gibbons. "People can opt in for anything from agricultural weather notifications to seasonal alerts."

To learn more or to sign up for emergency notifications, visit http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/2892/LANC-Alert.