People who receive the Albert Lea Tribune’s Text Alerts got the news faster on Thursday than everyone else.

We let Text Alert receivers know right away that school had been canceled at United South Central due to flooding. And the same for other schools. And we let them know roads were closing. And they received the National Weather Service’s updates on the flood warning.

And we directed them to get the full news at our website: www.albertleatribune.com.

People who visited the site knew about how the floods were hitting the cities in the area hard. They knew that volunteers were filling sandbags in New Richland.

And, moreover, we had the news before any other news website. Other news outlets probably were watching our website to see what they should go cover. We, on the other hand, are connected to the local communities and were already out and about. We are there for you.

Readers know from our coverage of past spot news events — tornado outbreak, South Margaretha evacuation, I-90 bus rollover — know that the Albert Lea Tribune is dedicated to full-court press when there is breaking news.

Getting the Text Alerts is just one way for readers to be “in the know” when it comes to news. We want you to know what we know when news breaks.

People can sign up for Text Alerts by clicking here.

The link will take people to the sign-up page. Select your options for receiving news via text messages.

Click here for the latest area flood news.

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