By Tom Morton, Star-Tribune staff writer

?As the western third of Casper Mountain burned in August 2006, Natrona County posted information on its website that may have been obsolete by the time county residents read it.

“We had a guy who could get in and design something and post something, and that took time,” said Eileen Hill, director of Natrona County’s Information Technology Department.

Five years later, the county now faces a threat from flooding.

But now it has a new and award-winning website from the Manhattan, Kan.-based Civic Plus to notify county residents of hazards as fast as officials can type, Hill said.

“With this system, we have a user-friendly interface,” she said.“It can be as soon as someone can get an Internet connection, log on, draft and build their message, and publish it.”