Sterling urges Logan County residents to sign up for emergency alerts

Sterling is urging Logan County residents and businesses to sign up for Everbridge before the next storm, evacuation or missing-child alert hits the county. The city says the system sends critical messages by cell phone, landline, text message or email, and that alerts are tailored to a person’s geographic location so the right households get the right warning fast. Enrollment is free, takes only a few minutes, and the Sterling Emergency Communications Center says staff will help anyone who does not have computer access.

The warning carries extra weight in Logan County, which spans 1,838.6 square miles and ranks as the 23rd largest county in Colorado by total area. The U.S. Census Bureau puts the county’s 2020 population at 21,528 and its July 1, 2025 estimate at 20,654, a spread-out population base that makes location-specific alerts especially useful when trouble moves quickly across the plains.

That risk was clear on May 23, 2025, when a long-lived supercell produced three tornadoes across Logan and Washington counties, including one EF-2 and one EF-1. The National Weather Service said the event also brought large hail and damage to power poles and trees, but no injuries were reported. For a county where storms can turn severe with little warning, the city’s push for direct alerts is meant to help residents decide quickly whether to shelter, evacuate, avoid a road or check on family members.

The system’s weak point is not the technology but enrollment. Anyone who has not registered will not receive the location-based messages, and the county’s Census profile shows why access matters: 20.6% of Logan County residents are 65 or older, 85.4% of households have broadband and 92.9% have a computer. Sterling says SECC’s mission is to protect citizen safety and provide the fastest and most efficient emergency response possible, and the city’s warning is simple: sign up now, before the next emergency starts.