Millions of mobile phones to get imminent emergency alert from Government as unprecedented alarm sent

Millions of Britons are set to receive an emergency alert on their mobile phones ahead of damaging winds, disruption and Met Office weather warnings across the country.

The Cabinet Office said it would issue an Emergency Alert at 6.45pm on Friday, December 6 to people in areas covered by the red warning in parts of Wales and the South West.

A statement from the Cabinet Office said that Britons’ mobile phones will make a loud siren-like sound – even if they are set on silent.

The sound and vibration will last for about 10 seconds, the Government said.

It’s set to be the largest use of the system outside a test scenario, with the last having come through in April 2023.

Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan said the warning “means that there is a potential risk to life” and has urged residents to “take care and follow advice to stay safe”.

The areas covered by the alert include:

• Devon;
• Bath and North East Somerset;
• Bristol;
• North Somerset;
• South Gloucestershire;
• Somerset;
• Isle of Anglesey;
• Gwynedd;
• Conwy;
• Ceredigion;
• Pembrokeshire;
• Carmarthenshire;
• Swansea;
• Neath;
• Port Talbot;
• Bridgend;
• Vale of Glamorgan;
• Cardiff;
• Monmouthshire;
• Newport.

Though the Cabinet Office said the alert would be coming through at 6.45pm, those in the affected areas were forced to wait for a quarter of an hour until the actual alert came through.