Flower Mound Is Asking FEMA to Let It Send Emergency Alerts Directly to Your Phone

Right now, if there's a gas leak near Wakefield Park or a flash flood ripping through Timber Creek, the fastest phone alert Flower Mound can send you depends on someone else pulling the trigger. The county or state has to originate the Wireless Emergency Alert. The town council is about to vote on changing that.

The agenda item asks council to approve a Memorandum of Agreement with FEMA and authorize the Mayor to sign it on the town's behalf — the first formal step toward Flower Mound becoming a local alerting authority for emergencies.

What that actually means: Wireless Emergency Alerts are short messages from authorized public alerting authorities that broadcast from cell towers to any WEA-enabled mobile device in a locally targeted area. Today Flower Mound doesn't hold that authorization on its own. As a FEMA-recognized alerting authority, it would.

Authorized public safety officials send WEA alerts through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) to participating wireless carriers, which then push the alerts to compatible mobile devices in the affected area. The town's emergency management staff would control when and where those alerts go — pinpointed to the affected neighborhood, not the whole county.

Federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial alerting authorities across the country already use IPAWS to send critical public alerts and warnings in their jurisdictions, so this is an established path. Other Texas cities have walked it. Austin became an IPAWS Alerting Authority in 2025.

The process requires more than a signature. Alerting authorities that intend to send alerts through IPAWS must complete an application defining the types of alerts they plan to issue and the geographic area they cover. Staff also need to finish FEMA training courses before full access is granted. Those courses focus on drafting effective alert messages and understanding best practices, and are a prerequisite for full access.

The cost to residents: nothing. There are no costs to receive or send alerts through IPAWS. The town may incur minimal costs to purchase IPAWS-compatible software — that's a town expense, not yours.

One catch worth knowing. WEA messages only reach WEA-enabled mobile devices. If you've turned off government alerts in your phone's settings, you won't receive them. Check now — on most phones it's buried under Notifications or Safety and Emergency. WEA messages are free and won't count toward texting limits on your wireless plan.

This doesn't replace outdoor warning sirens or any other alert channel. Through IPAWS, one message is created to reach as many people as possible, and using multiple pathways increases the likelihood that message gets through. WEA is one more layer on top of what's already there.

The decision to issue a wireless emergency alert is a matter of local emergency official communication plans, policies, and procedures. That responsibility — knowing when to push the button and when not to — lands squarely on Flower Mound's emergency management staff once the town holds the authority.

What to do right now: Pull up your phone settings and confirm government or emergency alerts are switched on. The agenda and council meeting schedule are posted at flowermound.gov/agendas. If you want to watch the vote or comment, check the town's meeting calendar for the next regular council meeting date.