PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management will test the community notification system for the first time Thursday, Jan. 26.

During the citywide test, PBEM will send a single message via land line phone, cellphone, text and email to as many Portland residents as possible in the shortest amount of time, according to PBEM spokesman Randy Neves.

The test will occur at 11 a.m., Thursday.

The new system has been used before in real, small-scale emergencies, but has never been successfully tested on a large scale, Neves said.

“We want this test to expose any weaknesses in the system,” said PBEM Director Carmen Merlo.

PBEM is asking Portland residents to sign up for public alerts so they can receive the test message. Personal information users provide during registration is kept private and only used to send geographically tailored emergency messages, Neves said.

PORTLAND, Ore. - A Northwest Portland homeowner who already lost part of his backyard to a landslide is trying to keep the rest of his property from taking out his neighbor's homes.

Last Friday, the back deck of a home on Northwest Calumet Terrace buckled and since then the people living below on Northwest Imperial Terrace have been keeping a close eye on the shifting dirt.

The owner of the home did not want to talk on camera but he said off camera that he will have to remove his deck. He has also hired erosion control workers, who have already draped the hillside below with tarp to deflect as much rain as possible. A permanent fix will likely involve retaining walls and perhaps planting more vegetation.