When Tuesday’s tornado swept through parts of Tampa, city workers rushed to update residents directly through its emergency notification system, Alert Tampa.
Last Friday when Tampa water customers were told to boil their water warnings went out through that same emergency system, but many residents never got those updates because they're not signed up for the free service.
“I just hadn't heard about it,” said Kat Ward.
Right now, about 11,000 people have registered for Alert Tampa, but there are more than 300,000 people who live in the city.
“I mean, obviously, we could do more, it requires people to sign up,” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. “It's nothing that we can force people to do. We've been very aggressive in telling people about it.”
The mayor has been spreading the word through public service announcements and says since he's become mayor the city has tripled the number of people who use the alert system.
“But it is one tool in an arsenal of tools that we have to communicate,” said Buckhorn.
After finding out about Alert Tampa, Kat Ward decided she wanted to sign up by signing on the city's website. With hurricane season approaching the city is just hoping others will do the same.