Emergency alert warnings can save lives if a flood, fire, tornado or active shooter threatens your neighborhood.

NBC 5 INVESTIGATES has learned hundreds of Texas cities and counties cannot use one of the nation’s most powerful warning tools, FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

About 13 years ago, the federal government launched IPAWS so local officials could send emergency alerts that could reach all cell phones in a particular area.

It’s the system often used to send AMBER Alerts, but NBC 5 INVESTIGATES has learned many cities and counties still can’t use IPAWS to send warnings because those communities never signed up.

“It’s shocking. It’s shocking. I mean, it’s disheartening, because … you think that there would be some sort of consistency at least within the

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