Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Stalled thunderstorms over Mt. Laguna

Emergency Alert System provides flash-flood warning

On July 22, the National Weather Serve activated San Diego County’s Emergency Alert System. Monsoonal moisture was causing large thunderstorms, running from Barstow south into Baja. The storm in San Diego was going to be stalled over the mountain areas of Pine Valley, east to Mt. Laguna, for up to two hours. A flash-flood warning was issued to residents in the mountains, which might face a threat of mudslides due to the recently burned areas around Mt. Laguna.

At 1:23 p.m., those watching cable TV had the audio portion interrupted by the Emergency Alert System for about 20 seconds. Viewers were advised in a top-of-the-screen crawl.

Additionally, KOGO AM 600 news reporter Jim Charvet announced the warning. Why KOGO? KOGO has been the government’s designated emergency station for decades. Other than broadcast towers based in Baja, KOGO has the strongest radio signal and can be received almost anywhere in San Diego County.

Sponsored
Sponsored

An employee of Major’s Coffee Shop in Pine Valley said there wasn’t any rain, but probably up in Laguna. A worker in the Mt Laguna Lodge & Store said there was only a drizzle, but the day before, when the weather service issued an alert, they got three inches in two hours. They take the Emergency Alert System warnings seriously.

Formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System, it was established during the Cold War so the president of the United States could notify citizens of a national emergency or disaster, such as incoming nuclear missiles from Russia. Some older cars from the 1950s and ’60s, with their original AM radios, may have a little triangle, the symbol of the EBS system, on the dial, right at the 600 frequency.

Years after the threat of incoming nuclear missiles was reduced, the EBS system was disbanded in 1996. Local agencies now operate the system for floods, fires, earthquakes, or other emergencies.

As a young DJ and reporter at KAVO FM-107 in Fallbrook in the late 1970s, I can remember the FCC’s procedures for EBS activation. If it were a true emergency, United Press International would send a line of repeated X’s to their teletype machines in newsrooms across America, followed by the ringing of a bell in the machine — ten times (most big news stories got only a four-bell alert).

The reporter or DJ on the air was supposed to then open a sealed envelope — kept only in the broadcast booth — which contained secret codes. The codes represented the on-air person’s ID, distinguishing them from a Russian agent who may have taken over the station to cause a misinformation panic among the population. The envelopes arrived weekly, and federal law required that they remain sealed and destroyed if not needed.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief

On July 22, the National Weather Serve activated San Diego County’s Emergency Alert System. Monsoonal moisture was causing large thunderstorms, running from Barstow south into Baja. The storm in San Diego was going to be stalled over the mountain areas of Pine Valley, east to Mt. Laguna, for up to two hours. A flash-flood warning was issued to residents in the mountains, which might face a threat of mudslides due to the recently burned areas around Mt. Laguna.

At 1:23 p.m., those watching cable TV had the audio portion interrupted by the Emergency Alert System for about 20 seconds. Viewers were advised in a top-of-the-screen crawl.

Additionally, KOGO AM 600 news reporter Jim Charvet announced the warning. Why KOGO? KOGO has been the government’s designated emergency station for decades. Other than broadcast towers based in Baja, KOGO has the strongest radio signal and can be received almost anywhere in San Diego County.

Sponsored
Sponsored

An employee of Major’s Coffee Shop in Pine Valley said there wasn’t any rain, but probably up in Laguna. A worker in the Mt Laguna Lodge & Store said there was only a drizzle, but the day before, when the weather service issued an alert, they got three inches in two hours. They take the Emergency Alert System warnings seriously.

Formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System, it was established during the Cold War so the president of the United States could notify citizens of a national emergency or disaster, such as incoming nuclear missiles from Russia. Some older cars from the 1950s and ’60s, with their original AM radios, may have a little triangle, the symbol of the EBS system, on the dial, right at the 600 frequency.

Years after the threat of incoming nuclear missiles was reduced, the EBS system was disbanded in 1996. Local agencies now operate the system for floods, fires, earthquakes, or other emergencies.

As a young DJ and reporter at KAVO FM-107 in Fallbrook in the late 1970s, I can remember the FCC’s procedures for EBS activation. If it were a true emergency, United Press International would send a line of repeated X’s to their teletype machines in newsrooms across America, followed by the ringing of a bell in the machine — ten times (most big news stories got only a four-bell alert).

The reporter or DJ on the air was supposed to then open a sealed envelope — kept only in the broadcast booth — which contained secret codes. The codes represented the on-air person’s ID, distinguishing them from a Russian agent who may have taken over the station to cause a misinformation panic among the population. The envelopes arrived weekly, and federal law required that they remain sealed and destroyed if not needed.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?
Next Article

Jayson Napolitano’s Scarlet Moon releases third Halloween album

Latest effort has the most local vibe
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader