Vedomosti: Emergencies Ministry sent a notification about a hurricane in Moscow after it began

Two mobile operators received a notification from the Ministry of Emergency Situations about a hurricane in Moscow on May 29 at 16:30, after it had already started, employees of the two companies told Vedomosti.

One of the publication's sources explained: the Ministry of Emergency Situations sends a warning to the operator's federal monitoring center directly. Vedomosti employees also emphasized that it is difficult to notify all subscribers at the same time, since the servers cannot handle the high load.

By 4:30 p.m., there were already reports of deaths due to the hurricane. In total, 16 people died in Moscow and the region from the effects of the strong wind. The wind knocked down 27,000 trees and damaged 243 roofs.

Meduzawrote in detail about how Muscovites were notified about the hurricane: many did not receive any SMS notifications at all, subscribers also received notifications about “rain, wet snow and squally wind,” and some received SMS with the only phrase “notification to the population.”

The Ministry of Emergency Situations insisted that they had sent information to MTS, Megafon and Beeline about the need to inform city residents about the hurricane. The head of the department's press service, Aleksey Vagutovich, considered that the information had been sufficient.

"SMS notification was organized, and all operators received the necessary text for distribution. In addition to SMS, information was given in the media. We also have other means of informing: for example, [the All-Russian complex for informing the population] OKSION, running lines in transport, social networks. We also always say that you should not stand under trees, under metal structures. Radio and television reported that the danger level was orange," he told Meduza.

On the night of June 1, authorities also predict wind speeds of up to 22 meters per second. A similar forecast was given for May 29.