Sign up for phone emergency alerts

RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho residents are encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts.

The city says for more than 10 years Rio Rancho and Sandoval County have used the CodeRED Emergency Notification System to alert the public during an emergency, such as a water outage or disaster like a fire.

“This incredibly important and useful tool gives the City the ability to notify (via telephone, cellular phone, TDD/ TTY device, or email) specific areas within the City in case of an emergency situation that requires immediate action,” reads a city news release. “For example, if an evacuation was necessary due to the recent fire that burned west of Rio Rancho, one of the ways the City would have notified residents would have been via this CodeRED system.”

The city says the system automatically has all landline phone numbers of people living in Rio Rancho and Sandoval County entered. But registration is required if residents only have a cellphone or would like to receive additional notifications through a mobile device. Registration is free and available at public.coderedweb.com/ cne/en-US/7A8E40D7EF62. Residents can choose how they would like to be notified. For instance, someone could choose to be notified by receiving a phone call, a text message or an email.