Residents now can sign up to receive alerts from the city on emergencies, water outages, event updates and more.

The service, called Suffolk On the Alert, allows residents to receive updates via telephone, text message or email. The system will have the added benefit of giving public safety operations new ways to gather accurate contact data as more people ditch their landline phone and use their cell phones only, according to a media release from the city.

Alerts could be issued by the police or fire departments, Public Works or Public Utilities, and other city departments, according to the release. Citizens can choose which type of non-emergency notifications they would like to receive.

People signing up also are asked to provide their address. This information will help the city target notifications to, for example, only those in the area of an emergency or only those affected by a utility outage.

For more information, visit the registration page at https://suffolk.onthealert.com.