HOME | REGISTER NOW | CURRENT AND RECENT EWN ALERTS | CONTACT US | ABOUT US

What do our members have to say about the system?

"EWN gave me 45 minutes to secure the house, garden and pets, move cars under cover and to ring all my 4pm students and their parents to cancel lessons and and tell them to ride out the storm under cover till it passed. If I had not done this they would all have been caught out in the brunt of the 4.5cm hail which descended on us!" Monique, Alstonville NSW.

" Thank you so much for the timely SMS text warning regarding the impending hailstorm. What an awesome service you offer! I am an avid storm watcher with BOM as my home page. It was most unusual that the storm caught me unawares because it is a standing family joke that I always know what the weather is doing and they regularly ring me to find out! The hailstorm on Monday seemed to have come from nowhere and moved in quickly. That day my computer was down and because of my teaching work I don't listen to TV or radio! Your warning SMS text gave me 45 minutes to secure the house, garden and pets, move cars under cover and even more importantly ring all my 4pm students and their parents to cancel lessons and and tell them to ride out the storm under cover till it passed. If I had not done this they would all have been caught out in the brunt of the 4.5cm hail which descended on us!

I have since sent invitations to at least 50 people to subscribe to your Early Warning Network including students and family and they have all been astounded to hear of such a wonderful free community service that you provide." ? Monique, Alstonville NSW

" I must admit that we rely heavily on receiving the warnings that you send. On the Sunday of the fierce storm, we were able to get our car away before the force of the storm hit. Had the car been left where it was sitting, it would have been hit by large branches which were torn from a very large tree on our property. "

" I have to say ever since I signed up to your service I have had my property saved from damage twice. I have also been able to warm my friends and told them to join your network. Please keep up the good work. "

" About 2 weeks ago or so, I got Hail Alert from you guys, and it was about 25mins after that we got heavy hail. Because of the alert, my wife was able to secure undercover parking at work, so I am grateful for your service. When I get an alert, I send a text ASAP to family and friends not on your service, who may be affected. "

" Your early warning email did confirm my thoughts on the weather approaching Deception Bay and I did in fact take steps to prepare for it, including putting the car under cover, rolling up of the aluminium blinds and storing loose outside items. Next time I'll also have to put a lot of rags between the screen doors and the main doors to stop a lot of rain water being forced past the door seals by the gale-force winds. Other than that, I had no damage at all. Very lucky, compared to some!

At the very height of the storm, the car had to come out though to search (successfully) for a missing neighbours child and what a motoring event that was !! The neighbour obviously didn't have the benefit of your alert !! ... or common-sense too, I fear. To sum up, I'm quite impressed both by your Alerts and the fact that you were concerned enough to write your email. Thank you for both. Please continue your great service to the community. "

" Hi....You guys are doing an AWESOME job, because of your warnings on Sunday we came thru it without property damage as we had time to put out door furniture & cars away, we also turned off all our electrical equipment so we weren't hit with power surges. Other people around us lost fridges, TV's, fish tanks etc. "

" I would like to thank you for your early storm warning for hail and damaging winds on 22nd October 2008. I was working in the rainforest at Byron Bay when I received the SMS alert. I was then able to access the radar which confirmed that the storm was heading straight to my work place. I was lucky to be able to find shelter for my car but more importantly, to alert my fellow workers in the forest of the impending storm and we all were able to take shelter. Very fortunate given the size of the hail and the velocity of the winds and ensuing damage to the forest (fallen branches etc)! "

" I received a text message on my mobile, alerting me of a Severe Weather Warning for my town, and surrounding districts. Another of the towns mentioned - Clermont, is where my Daughter, Dad, Sister, and Brother live. I immediately forwarded your text to all of them, then went online to check the BOM weather radar. I saw a large, severe system bearing down on them. My Sister's property, 40km north of Clermont was worst hit. Her husband reported lightning, hail, flash flooding, and extremely strong winds. There were farm buildings unroofed, and trees ripped out by the roots. A neighbour who has an amateur weather station recorded winds of 192km/hr. My 73 yr old Dad said it was the worst he'd ever seen in his life. We did get a storm here in Mackay a few hours later, with strong winds, lightning, and over 40mm of rain in around 1/2 hr, but nowhere near as severe as Clermont districts. Because of you wonderful people at EWN, I was able to forewarn my family, and prepare myself for the ensuing weather. Your service was invaluable, and family members are now subscribing. Most importantly everyone was safe, in what could potentially have been a life threatening event, so I would like to say a big Thank You from this grateful customer. "

" Your service is very much appreciated. My Husband and I don't own a car that we would need to move under cover or anything like that, but we both have a vision impairment so getting the SMS is a good thing to ensure that we ourselves stay under cover! I have also recommended the EWN service for deaf people, since they wouldn't hear any warnings on radio or TV. I haven't heard anything from my deaf friends, but I'm sure it would help them! "

" Thanks for these great alerts. I am the Deputy Local Controller of the State Emergency Service and find these alerts give me the opportunity to get teams together for any impending emergencies (storms). Please keep up the good work. First I would like to thank you and your staff for sending emails and SMS. "

" We certainly find the early warnings useful. We have one car parked outside but in severe conditions can get it into a neighbours garage. This we did on Sunday evening and I am sure this saved it. We also have two large outdoor decks and warnings give us time to remove all the furniture. Keep up the good work. "

" I had 25 mins to park my Car and place out door furniture into garage. Approx 5:55pm Storm hit with very High winds, Heavy Rain, Lighting and Little hail, Debris and Branches fell from gum and Palm trees into the back and front yards blocking my drive way and to top it off a 4 hour Blackout. Thank you again, my vehicle would have been damage for sure if I had not received early warnings. "

" This is and excellent life and property saving service well worth Government funding ASAP. I recommend this service to every house hold in Australia. "

" Not only do I find your service useful, but incredibly powerful as an enabler of better public safety outcomes. I work in the IT/Healthcare industry, so increased and timely awareness of hazardous situations can only serve to reduce the impact on emergency services during and after an incident. "

" I currently live on the south side of Brisbane, Queensland with 5 other individuals and I'd just like to say that in general, the service you provide for FREE is quite honestly, fantastic. Whilst we were not severely affected by the storms (thank goodness), the large amount of rain has caused some minor flooding to a work area underneath our residence but thankfully, has not entered any of the house. Without your EWN alert system, this flooding could have been major and caused significant damage to the project we are attempting to complete over the next couple of months. Again, we thankyou for your timely, and to-the-point notifications to our computers, E-mail addresses and mobiles which undoubtedly saved ourselves, and many others, a lot of time and money. "

" I would like to thank EWN for a job very well done! I am a State Emergency Service Operational Team Leader. The email you sent on Sunday was great! I had time to sort out my kit and get uniformed up! You guys knew before the SES did! I have asked that all my SES team subscribes to EWN so they know what the score is! Great by SMS as well!!! "

" On Sunday afternoon, I was at home when you alert arrived via a text message on my mobile phone warning of possible large hail. My wife was visiting her sister only 5 minutes away in the car. I knew the car would be parked in the street. I was able to warn her to get the car home and under cover. "

" I was out visiting a friend in Ipswich when I received one of the alerts. I fled back to Brisbane immediately and got into the garage just as the storm hit. My friend in Ipswich received some storm damage. Thanks very much for your alerts. I also forward them to people who I know are in the danger zones. "

" I have found your EWN alerts to be an invaluable tool particularly as I tend to live by the motto 'fore warned is fore armed'. The alerts allow me to make business decisions relating to the safety of my staff and make personal decisions about when to travel for example. I can and do easily forward your alerts to my husband so he is aware for his business of what is coming. This allows him to move personal and customer vehicles under cover or at the very least keep an eye on the sky. On Sunday the alerts allowed us to move my husband's new car under shelter, warn family in the area of The Gap and Arana Hills (even though we are in an area that didn't bear to brunt of the storm), and move a 5 year old birthday party inside sooner rather than later. I am a big fan of your service and have recommended it to my daughter's child care centre, friends, family and colleagues. "

" From your alerts I then know to use secondary resources such as Foxtel interactive weather channel or bom.gov.au to be informed about what is happening. Since I work in an office with no external windows your alerts are usually my first idea of bad weather approaching. Keep up the great work, it is greatly appreciated. "

" Hi EWN. I'd like to thank you for your reports, they are invaluable to me and my drivers. We operate taxis and limos, and we have found your info very helpful. I would suggest getting the taxi companies on board for sponsoring your cause. great job ! p.s. if i can be of any assistance don't hesitate. "

" I love the warnings sent by your service and always take actions once receiving your warnings. We have a dog that is terrified of storms and are able to ensure one of us is home once we receive your warnings. Thank you for your wonderful work. "

" We find the EWN alerts very helpful as we were able to remove outdoor furniture and tie down what we can't. I phoned friends to make them aware and they did same. We are also able to move outdoor activities (BBQ) to indoors. "

" Excellent warning. I was taking my dog out for a walk in the afternoon and got the SMS alert. The first was for the southern areas. I then looked up in the sky and it looked dark and wondered whether the north side would be hit. Sure enough the second SMS alert warned hail in Aspley. Although we didn't get hail we certainly got a lot of wind and had enough time to secure and put away items that potentially could have caused damage. "

" I received your text warning while out at Venue on the Gold Coast with a few friends, the music was great, the food was fabulous so it was very hard to convince my friends it was time to head for cover because of the text storm warning I had received from EWN.

Alas I was unable to move my friends before the storm hit EWN had sent me a second warning, and we all had to spend the next hour or so waiting out the storm totally freaked out, concerned about our family, friends, homes and cars.

My friends were very impressed and have asked me to text them whenever I receive a warning from EWN alert. "

" We are extremely happy with the early warnings we have received and value them a great deal, we often pass on the warnings to neighbours and friends which in turn assist us and others in our preparation and precautions prior the storm etc heading our way - that is it allows us time to protect our properties as best we can by moving items to a safer area like cars etc and outdoor furniture. "

" We had ample warning and sufficient information to make any choices as what to do if needed, the SMS side of your service is a great idea, I have told friends and family about it and believe everybody should be linked into this service. This is something we really need and I don't know if you get any funding but the Government should be behind this service. "

" Thanks to your alerts sent to my email I have found myself prepared on many occasions. For example I have the time to clean up my yard to make sure nothing is left for the wind to use as a missile. I've had a chance to get the washing in, my car in the garage and also to warn friends and family. So thank you for these warnings they have proven to be a tremendous help to both me and my family. "

Return to the Home Page or Support Pages