Since 2005, the City of Bowie has kept those who live and work in Bowie in the know with its Alert Bowie emergency alerting and information sharing system. Alerts have warned subscribers about tornadoes, kept them informed about power outages and restoration estimates during hurricanes, provided plowing updates during blizzards, and earlier this year helped locate a vulnerable senior who had wandered away from caregivers. The system has also been used to report road closures, share crime alerts and remind subscribers about upcoming local events.

Current Alert Bowie subscribers will continue to receive alerts and E-News messages from the City of Bowie, but in order to take advantage of the new features offered by Alert Bowie 2.0 or to make changes to their current subscriptions, they will need to create a new account. New subscribers are also welcome.

Current subscribers of Alert Bowie receive information via text messages and email. With Alert Bowie 2.0, users will be able to receive important information via a mobile device application, by fax, by telephone call, as well as by text message and email.

The simple account registration process will take a few minutes to complete, but it will open the door to ensuring that subscribers have the information they need when they need it most. It will also allow residents to pick and choose what kind of notifications they want to receive, as well as specify particular times during the day when they would prefer to block any incoming notifications.