DACONO, Colo. -- One week after a deadly tornado ripped through northern Colorado, one small city is allowing residents to sign up for breaking news information that will reach them wherever they go.

It's pretty heady stuff for a small, mining and agricultural center, north of Denver, founded in 1908.

"And these are businesses, residents, and employees," said Assistant Administrator AJ Euckert as he demonstrated the Connect-CTY mass notification system by Blackboard, Inc.

On Thursday, the city sent test messages to more than 1,300 people listed in Dacono public records. They were offered the chance to sign up for free.

The system can be tailored to reach only certain streets, even certain homes.

Whether it's a tornado or a blizzard, the system can deliver e-mails, text messages, and voice recordings -- even personally voiced by the Mayor -- within seconds.

"And we have been noted for being kind of back-woodsy but that's what people like. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't also be progressive, which we are," Mayor Wade Carlson said.

Fully aware that mass notification systems had been initiated in large college communities such as the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, Dacono leaders wondered if that kind of awareness was necessary in a city named after the first two letters of three women: Daisy, Cora and Nora.

The idea came about last year, after a water treatment problem in Cartler Lake forced city leaders to deliver constantly changing water restrictions on paper to each resident by hand.

"It was just a lot of human power that we had, fortunately. But, you know, there just had to be a better way," Euckert said.

In the event of a power outage, the system can still be used to warn people.

"If you can get a phone line to work, anywhere, you can dial in and do it. You don't have to be in front of a computer," Euckert said.

The messages can be received as e-mails to two different e-mail addresses at home computers or PDA's.

Phone messages can be sent to up to three different phone numbers per person with both voice and text info.

Even hearing impaired notices are used.

The system is run by a private company but the price tag was low at roughly $ 3,700 spent so far.