Weather alerts displayed in real time on council website

Weather warnings and emergency alerts are now being displayed in real-time and automatically for anyone visiting the council’s website.

The Region Warnings and Alerts website tool displays details of warnings from official sources such as MetService and Civil Defence (National Emergency Management Agency) as they occur to anyone viewing the fndc.govt.nz website.

When an active alert is published, a pop-up window will display relevant information like alert type (e.g. thunderstorms, heavy rain), the start and end times, severity, and a direct link to the source, providing the most recent updates to keep users better informed.

The system tracks alerts using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) feed from official sources like MetService and Civil Defence, then filters them to show only those that apply to parts of the Far North District.

This new feature, created in-house by council staff, aims to keep our communities informed and better prepared when severe weather is likely to affect the Far North. The website tool was tested during recent weather events to ensure that only correct details were displayed and that it performed reliably. There are plans to extend the tool’s functions later this year, including an option for email alerts for those who sign up.

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Main image: pop-up window displaying warning information.

Below image: how the warning will present itself on the webpage.