As the state continues to mourn the deaths brought on by the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country, the disaster is bringing attention to the effectiveness of the Blue Alert system.
With over 110 lives lost and many more missing, the catastrophic flooding in central Texas is raising concerns about a potential issue with the state’s Blue Alert emergency warning system, namely, warning fatigue.
Blue Alerts are issued to help in the apprehension of violent criminals who have killed or seriously injured law enforcement officers. Recently, a Blue Alert was issued statewide for Benjamin Song, an individual suspected of being involved in the ambush at the ICE facility in Alvarado.
According to Grant Holland, a director with Dallas Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, over time, people can start to dismiss warning messages. The reason, he said, is that people become desensitized to frequent warnings that might not directly apply to them.
“When we have repeated warnings that are not paired with any sort of real outcome relevant to us, we are much less likely to listen to them,” Holland said, per WFAA.
A study conducted by RAND last year found that 30% of Texans have opted out of receiving emergency phone alerts, the highest rate in the nation.
Following a Blue Alert that went out at 4:30 a.m. back in October 2024, the FCC received 4,000 complaints in Texas over the warning.
When someone receives frequent alerts they do not considered relevant to their specific location, Holland believes they begin to take the warnings less seriously.
“They will be less likely to pay attention the next time their phone makes that noise,” he said.
A special session of the Texas legislature plans to discuss the state’s flood alert system. Representative Mihaela Plesa says more needs to be done to ensure warnings are effective.
“Those alert systems are in place because they are important… If we need to do an educations [sic] campaign to educate people how to respond or how to get information when they receive one of those warnings, I am ready to get to work on that as well,” said Plesa.