Stay in the Loop with Alerts from the Village of Lemont

The only thing louder than tornado sirens going off on a quiet, clear Sunday night is the barrage of text messages and Facebook alerts a community reporter receives when it happens.

That was the scene at my Romeoville home just after 10 p.m. when a mechanical malfunction caused Lemont's tornado sirens to sound on and off for nearly two hours.

With no immediate explanation, dozens of Patch readers turned to our Facebook page to see what the community knew about the situation, which at first was very little. Within minutes, however, residents were connecting and sharing updates while they waited for official word from the .

In the age of instant news, people have grown accustomed to having information the second something happens. Those who were connected online knew within 30 minutes of the sirens going off that there was no emergency—and I don't just mean connected to Patch.

As I worked to send out a breaking news alert from the site, the put together its own e-blast using the electronic news service Nixle.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Nixle, this article is for you.

The Village of Lemont has been using Nixle since late 2009 to send alerts to residents' email addresses, phones and web accounts. The service is free for the village and its users, and can be accessed through the village's website.

Currently, alerts are sent out by the village's administrative office, Lemont Public Works and the Lemont Police Department. All alerts copy directly to the village's Twitter account (@VillageofLemont).

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I've been a fan of Nixle since Lemont Patch launched in September 2010. Whenever there's an emergency—water main breaks, road closures, crime—or an important event—like the Quarryman Challenge or Keepataw Days—I get two alerts, one to my phone and one to my inbox.

It's easy to sign up:

1. Visit http://local.nixle.com/village-of-lemont.
2. Click "Sign Up" at the top of the page, or text your zip code to 888777 for mobile alerts.
3. Enter an email address, password, name and mobile phone number.
4. Enter your home address or closest intersection, city, state and zip code.
5. Customize your Nixle profile.

Once you've signed up, you will start receiving alerts from the Village of Lemont.

While I have you, I'm also going to offer a shameless plug for Lemont Patch and the many ways we can help you connect to your community.

Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts

The best way to keep up with Lemont news every day is to sign up for our daily newsletter. It's free and will be sent every day to your inbox.

On any given day, the newsletter has between five and eight news stories, along with events, community announcements and blog posts.

When you sign up for the daily newsletter, you can also register for breaking news alerts, which are also free. We mostly use these alerts for crime stories, or ones that will have an immediate impact on residents.

Sign up for the Lemont Patch newsletter and breaking news alerts

Facebook and Twitter

As I mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to stay connected with the Lemont community is via Facebook.

In addition to interacting with fans throughout the day, I post hourly updates with story links, news briefs, and shoutouts to local businesses and organizations.

Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lemontpatch.

If we haven't convinced you to become a fan yet, here are .

For those of you on Twitter, we've got you covered. Follow us at www.twitter.com/lemontpatch.