Public Information Office

RoCo Alert is a system used by Roanoke County public safety officials to deliver emergency notifications to residents and businesses impacted by, or in danger of being impacted by, an emergency or disaster. Officials within the Roanoke County Emergency Communications Center can activate RoCo Alert when needed for wide area disasters such as wildfires or storm damage and also for very local alerts for flooding or neighborhood emergencies.

RoCo Alert uses the 9-1-1 Verizon telephone database to call and deliver a recorded message to all landline phone numbers in a specific geographic area within Roanoke County that may be affected by an emergency or disaster. In addition, residents can register VoIP telephones, cell phones, and an email address with an address location. Authorized public safety officials create an emergency area based on the location of an event and record a voice, email and/or text message notification. RoCo Alert sends the notification to phone numbers and email addresses assigned to locations within the emergency area.