Sentinel

Sentinel warns people about danger where they are, and emails the people who sign up when an emergency reaches them. It uses official US government sources: FEMA public alerts (IPAWS), FEMA flood maps, the National Weather Service, the US Geological Survey and OpenFEMA. No API keys needed.

The warning that matters most: when a flood warning is in effect and the location is in a high-risk flood zone, Sentinel shows a red banner with the official instruction, such as "Move to higher ground now", and emails every subscriber inside the warning area.

What people see

• Active alerts for their location, from FEMA IPAWS: weather warnings, AMBER alerts, evacuation orders, civil emergencies, road closures. Official wording, never rewritten.
• Their flood zone and what it means in plain words ("Zone AE: high risk, about a 26% chance of flooding over a 30-year mortgage").
• What to do: safety steps for the hazard, based on Ready.gov and NWS guidance, then ideas for getting out of the way: stay with relatives, take the vacation you have been putting off, book a hotel inland.
• Earthquakes nearby this week, and FEMA disaster declarations for their county, with a link to DisasterAssistance.gov when federal help is available.

Blocks

• Your location: visitors click Check my location. Sentinel re-checks every 5 minutes while the page is open and, if they allow it, shows a browser notification for new alerts.
• Alerts for a place: a fixed address, such as city hall or a campus.
• Email alert sign-up: anyone can sign up for an address they care about: home, work, a parent's house.
• Missing and endangered persons: active AMBER, Blue and missing person alerts for your county or state.

Email alerts

• Emails for new alerts, updates (a watch becomes a warning) and the all clear, each with the official instruction, safety steps and a link back to a live page for the subscriber's address.
• Precise during emergencies: for flood warnings and severe alerts, subscribers are matched on their exact address, so only people inside the danger area get the email.
• Emergency mode: while an emergency covers any subscriber, Sentinel checks for new alerts every minute instead of every five.
• Confirmation before anonymous sign-ups start, one-click unsubscribe in every email, no email ever sent twice, and sending through a queue so a big storm doesn't slow your site.

Who it's for

Cities, counties, emergency management offices, schools and universities, utilities, newsrooms, property managers, and any site whose visitors live somewhere weather and emergencies happen.

Important

Sentinel is not an alerting system. A website only reaches people who are on it, and emails depend on cron and mail delivery. It adds to Wireless Emergency Alerts and NOAA Weather Radio; it doesn't replace them. Every page and email says so, in words you can edit. Sentinel covers the United States.

Requirements

• Drupal 10.3, 11 or 12. No other modules.
• Cron running every minute, so alerts and emails go out quickly.
• Reliable outgoing email for the email alerts.

Documentation

• Getting started: install, cron, email and blocks
• Email alerts and emergency mode
• How alerts are matched to a location
• Changing the safety advice
• Adding your own information (for developers)

Supporting this module

Bug reports, feature requests and patches are welcome in the issue queue. If you run Sentinel for a city or agency, we would like to hear how it works for you.

Built by Easy Life Agents @ Global Web Methods

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