The Public Information and Coordination Centre opened at Emergency Services headquarters at 5am yesterday and is being staffed by communications staff from across the government.

The centre, which is being run by Jeremy Lasek, of the Chief Minister's Directorate, is responsible for collating information and making sure it gets to the public via the media and other sources.

Mr Lasek said the centre's staff had reacted quickly to a rumour circulating on social media that Holy Trinity Primary School at Curtin had been evacuated. The school had not been evacuated but students and staff attending a camp at the Birrigai Outdoor School had been brought back early in case roads were cut.

''It was interpreted by someone that heard it that the school had been evacuated, which we then had to clarify in terms of new information,'' Mr Lasek said.

''With social media, we monitor what's being discussed and said … just in case people are going off on the wrong track or spreading misinformation that we can clarify.''

Mr Lasek said working in the centre gave government communications staff valuable experience at assisting with an emergency situation.

''It's a genuine whole-of-government response so [Territory and Municipal Services] are focussing on road closures. If there was any impact on schools or bus services, we would have people with expert knowledge,'' he said.

Federal Emergency Management Minister Robert McClelland urged people yesterday with smartphones to download a free application which provided information from authorities during emergencies such as floods.

''The DisasterWatch phone app contains information about disaster events in Australia via direct feeds from a range of authoritative sources in the states and territories and nationally.''