Carbon County officials are urging residents to sign up for its electronic alert system that will help spread the word in the case of emergencies, especially now that winter is in full swing.

CodeRED is a free general and emergency alert messaging system that sends texts, emails or phone calls straight to a person's phone in the event of a severe weather or other emergency in the area. It was implemented in the county late last year."CodeRED is a quick and easy way to be prepared for, and to stay informed, prior to, during and in the recovery phase of emergency and disaster situations," said Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County Emergency Management coordinator.To sign up for CodeRED, visit

www.carboncounty.com and click on the CodeRED: Get it now button on the left side of the website.The button will take you to the community notification enrollment form for Carbon. Fill out the information and when prompted to create a managed account, click "Yes" and the continue button.Once you create a username and password, you will be able to check additional notifications.CodeRED was implemented last year and was made possible through the Northeast Terrorism Task Force, an eight-county team consisting of Monroe, Carbon, Pike, Wayne, Lehigh, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Northampton counties.CodeRED replaced the Ready Notify Carbon program that had been in place in the county since 2013.