144 of our 146 sirens worked during Saturdays warning

[AllAmericanFE]

The 2 sirens that failed were thunderbolts which is supprising to me.


http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/news.a ... -0031.html

[kswx29]

There is a video on youtube from i believe Columbus and you can hear a Thunderbolt and Whelen. The older sirens here in Topeka are very reliable. The Model 5 up the street used to be very reliable until it broke down back in May, but it was fixed in Late July and has been running every since.

[CDV777-1]

2 out of 146 sirens didn't work and that warrants a news story?
Oh brother!!!
The part of the story that cracked me up was the bit about the guy hearing about the warning on tv and then going outside to see if he can hear the siren. That's getting it just a little backwards isn't it? Another story about sirens and the EM guys don't make the point that they are "OUTDOOR" warning sirens. They aren't intended for warning people already indoors. Sheesh!

[Fletch]

Some people are pretty dumb. During Saturday's tornado warning here in Columbus, I saw some people outside still mowing their lawn, oblivious to the tornado sirens or the dark clouds.

I would say, however, that the tornado warning went pretty well and that the amount of traffic definitely decreased about 15 minutes into the warning and there were few people outside.

[scooterbugs25]

[quote="Fletch"]Some people are pretty dumb. During Saturday's tornado warning here in Columbus, I saw some people outside still mowing their lawn, oblivious to the tornado sirens or the dark clouds.
quote]

I was on the phone to my Brother in Grove City, They were outside cooking out Having a birthday party, Had no Idea that anything was wrong. The siren went off, someone said it was in the northern part of the county moving away from them, It was sunny and normal where they were. I think they need to sound the siren in sections. Why have that option and not use it? There was nothing going on where they live.

[Fletch]

I guess I have mixed feelings. I mean, only sounding sirens in a section of the county can be done. But it could be a liability issue if a tornado were to touch down in an area that wasn't warned. Depending on the speed of the storm and how strong it is it may just make sense to alert the entire county.

A compromise might be to have a full county alert for 3 minutes and then only sound the sirens in the section of the county experiencing the storm for the rest of the warning.

People will take the sirens any way they want. If they want to at least go inside and check on the situation, I would encourage that. If they want to keep mowing or doing whatever activities and not be bothered, they can feel free to do so but don't complain that you weren't warned.

[kagome122885]

I encourage everyone to have a weather radio, but they say they don't need it, because they say they are a light sleeper, and the sirens will wake them up. That is how people get killed when a tornado strikes at night! Remember the November 2005 tornado that hit Evansville, IN in the middle of the night? People were asleep when the tornado hit. Many of those did not hear warning sirens, and some were killed.

[Robert Gift]

Yes, a weather radio next to the bed can be best.
Aurora, Colorado, sounded ALL their Whelen sirens for a funnel cloud far south - maybe not even within the city limits.
Most of Aurora was sunny and clear when all the sirens sounded.
They have the ability to activate them in sections, but that would require thought.

[dboyle]

if you can't hear a tornado, which is said to sound like a freight train, how can you be expected to hear a siren which could be any distance away? light sleeper or not, you can't be expected to wake up to a siren. we have sirens for TMI, but I will sleep through a Cyclone a block away from me when fire calls come in. a NOAA radio is probably one of the best hazard preparedness tools you can own. before, they were hard to get ahold of, but now, you can get alarm clocks, portable radios, walkie-talkies, scanners, CB/Ham radio, and vehicle stereos or just about anything with NOAA bands built in.