Hayward emergency prep starts with AC Alert and a simple plan

Hayward uses Alameda County’s AC Alert for location-based emergency messages. Create a profile, choose phone or email contacts, and add the addresses you care about. The system is only as useful as the address and contact information in the account, so update it after a move or phone change.

Hayward also links to its evacuation platform, still called Zonehaven on some city pages and now presented through Genasys Protect. That is where an address can be matched to an evacuation zone and current status. AC Alert is the message path; the zone map is the place-and-status path.

The city’s general preparedness and CERT pages are for the household plan. Write down an out-of-area contact, school and work pickup arrangements, medicine, pet needs, and who checks on someone who may need more time. Keep a paper copy in case the phone is unavailable.

When an emergency changes the day, start with the latest official alert and zone status. A general preparedness page is useful before the event, but it does not show whether a road is open now.