The City of Victoria has launched a new alert system to warn residents and visitors of emergencies in the area.

Vic-Alert distributes information and updates about severe weather warnings, power outages, natural disasters, amber alerts and other local incidents. The service sends out city-wide information as well as alerts focused on a specific area, such as a neighbourhood gas leak.

Subscribers sign up online and can choose to receive notifications by text, email or voice call. The city also recommends selecting the voice call option to receive a wake-up call in case of any emergency in the middle of the night.

Several other alert systems in British Columbia also provide updates on provincewide and national emergencies such as Emergency Info B.C., Alert Ready in B.C. and Environment Canada.