If your phone would not stop buzzing during the severe storms in St. Clair County overnight, you were not alone. The barrage of calls, texts and automated warnings that hit residents was tied to a behind-the-scenes switchover in the county’s alert system, and it briefly left people feeling like their phones were part of the storm.
County officials say the confusion stems from the Emergency Management Agency’s transition away from the older CodeRED platform to a new Everbridge-based system. During this migration, both services may have been active at the same time, which likely produced duplicate alerts that rang phones repeatedly in some neighborhoods. Officials stressed that people who are already signed up for county alerts do not need to re-register.
County: Transition explains multiple messages
St. Clair County leaders told First Alert 4 that duplicate phone calls and texts were expected while the migration continues. As the county settles into the new platform, residents should know that alerts from the system will show up as calls or messages from 618-825-2682.
EMA officials also said they are reviewing exactly how Everbridge’s geographic-targeting tools were used during the overnight storms, trying to sort out who was meant to get which alert and why some phones seemed to light up more than others.
How Everbridge geotargets phones
Everbridge’s mass-notification platform plugs into FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) and lets approved agencies draw polygons on a map or use geocodes to send Wireless Emergency Alerts to phones in a selected area, according to Everbridge. The idea is to reach everyone inside an immediate hazard zone as quickly as possible.
There is a catch, though. Because the system works off cell towers, it can also reach people whose phones briefly connected to a tower inside that targeted area. So even if you were just passing through, your device might have been swept into the alert zone.
Why residents saw duplicates
The county’s "Be Ready" enrollment page describes a Warning Information Notification System (WINS) powered by Everbridge for official county alerts, while some EMA web pages still show CodeRED materials. That mix of old and new is a sign the migration is still in progress, according to Be Ready St. Clair County.
Until the switch fully wraps up, officials say residents may keep seeing overlapping or repeated messages as both systems cycle through storms and test runs. The ask from the county is patience while the settings, lists and geographic zones are cleaned up and finalized.
Why jurisdictions are changing vendors
St. Clair County is not alone in making a change. The move comes after a nationwide disruption of the legacy CodeRED and OnSolve platform in late 2025 that left some jurisdictions unable to send alerts and pushed agencies to look for other options. Security reporting by CyberScoop detailed the outage and the vendor’s response, which helped drive some counties toward systems that offer IPAWS integration and more built-in redundancy.
What residents should do now
Residents who are tired of duplicate calls but still want to stay informed are being urged to check their settings rather than opt out altogether. County officials recommend confirming your enrollment and notification preferences on the WINS sign-up section of the "Be Ready" site and adding any locations that matter to you, such as home, work or a relative’s address.
The Local Emergency Planning Committee lists an EMA phone at (618) 825-2682 for questions and non-emergency business. For life‑threatening emergencies, residents should still call 9-1-1, according to St. Clair County pages.
County officials say the whole point of the switch is to improve reliability and reach when storms and other crises hit. In the meantime, they are asking residents to stick with the system, keep an eye on local forecasts and watch official county pages for updates whenever severe weather is in the area.
