Free flood warnings to be offered to EE mobile customers
The Environment Agency has teamed up with digital communications company EE for a new scheme to send flood warnings to mobile phone users.
The Environment Agency has teamed up with digital communications company EE for a new scheme to send flood warnings to mobile phone users in Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire.
From Monday July 13, EE customers registered in flood risk areas will receive messages from the Environment Agency’s Floodline Warnings Direct service, giving people valuable time to prepare. The scheme is the first of its kind in England and follows a successful pilot in Staffordshire in March this year.
Since 2010, the Floodline Warnings Direct service has enabled the Environment Agency to automatically register and send warnings to 600,000 homes and business landline numbers, but this will be the first time that flood warnings will be issued directly through a mobile phone provider.
Jason Rees, EE’s Director of New Business, said, ‘This new service clearly demonstrates the positive contribution that mobile technology makes to our everyday lives. The Floodline Warnings Direct service offers our customers a free and essential service.’
Craig Woolhouse, flood risk manager at the Environment Agency, said, ‘We want to ensure that everyone has as much time as possible to prepare for flooding and by working with EE we’re now able to warn even more people about the risks. Flood warnings save lives and this ground-breaking initiative is another way of raising awareness of flood risk.’