Phone alerts during flood? A handful; but 5 issued in past two days

After issuing very few phone alerts during October’s life-threatening flood, Columbia and Richland County officials have put out five in two days.

Columbia’s utilities and engineering department warned people in the Vista at 4:50 Thursday afternoon about a water line break on Lincoln Street because the break could have affected afternoon rush-hour traffic in the entertainment district, utilities director Joey Jaco said. A second notice went out at 7 p.m.

Water line breaks prompted two advisories for customers to boil their water before drinking or cooking with it, he said. That raises January’s boil-water advisories to nine compared with two in December, he said.

Sheriff Leon Lott, whose agency has its own phone-alert system that reaches 14,500 people, issued two about a Saturday question-and-answer forum that was canceled because of a winter storm.

The Sheriff’s Department issues alerts about once a month on matters of public safety or public concern, spokesman Curtis Wilson said.

Clif LeBlanc

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 5:03 PM.