Flower Mound Approved a FEMA Agreement to Pursue Local Emergency Alert Authority

Flower Mound is pursuing federal authorization that could give town officials another way to warn residents during local emergencies.

The Flower Mound Town Council approved a Memorandum of Agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Jan. 20, 2026. The council approved the agreement 4-0 as part of its consent agenda and authorized the mayor to execute it.

The agreement begins the process of making Flower Mound a local alerting authority through FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, commonly known as IPAWS.

IPAWS is the national system used to distribute authenticated emergency messages through several public-warning channels. Those channels include Wireless Emergency Alerts sent to compatible mobile phones, Emergency Alert System messages carried by television and radio stations, and alerts distributed through NOAA Weather Radio.

If Flower Mound completes the federal approval process, authorized town officials could use those channels to issue certain emergency messages for affected areas of the community. That could help the town reach people within a specific geographic area during a fast-moving local incident.

The agreement does not mean Flower Mound’s IPAWS capability is active yet.

FEMA requires participating agencies to complete training, select compatible alerting software, establish an agreement with FEMA and receive specific public-alerting permissions. Those permissions determine which types of alerts an agency may send and the geographic area it is authorized to cover.

Town documents identify the FEMA agreement as one step in that process. They do not provide a date for when Flower Mound could receive final authorization or begin issuing its own IPAWS messages.

Flower Mound already uses Everbridge to distribute emergency and community notifications. Residents can receive messages involving public safety, evacuations and other local situations through that service.

IPAWS would provide additional ways to reach the public. Wireless Emergency Alerts, for example, can appear on compatible phones within a targeted area without requiring users to register for a local notification list.

The proposed authority would not replace alerts issued by the National Weather Service, Denton County or other authorized agencies. The National Weather Service already sends qualifying weather warnings, including certain flash flood warnings, through the Wireless Emergency Alert system.

Instead, becoming an IPAWS alerting authority could allow Flower Mound to originate approved messages for emergencies being managed at the town level. The town could determine the affected area and distribute an alert through the channels covered by its federal permissions.

Denton County has also moved its emergency-notification service from CodeRED to Everbridge. Information previously stored in the county’s former notification systems was deleted, so residents who relied on CodeRED should make sure they are registered with Everbridge and that their contact information is current.

Residents can review Flower Mound’s emergency-notification information at flowermound.gov/emergencynotifications.