Some Texas Towns Doing Away with Tornado Sirens, Is This a Good Idea?
Adapt or die they always say, but should we be doing away with tornado sirens entirely?
This past week across the state of Texas, eleven tornadoes touched down. We had some warnings here in Wichita Falls, but you know when that siren goes off something serious is happening. Which did not happen this week in our area, actually it didn't happen in some areas where tornadoes actually touched down as well.
It looks like parts of Texas are no longer using outdoor tornado sirens. Instead opting in to a text alert system for their residents. Williamson County in Central Texas is being criticized this week for not using the tornado sirens.
"Tornado sirens are certainly an option. I don't know that they're the best option for today in today's world with all the technology we have available," Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell said. "We believe we already have a better system in place. You know what that is? Those are your cell phones because the weather alerts and weather alarms went out quick."
Looks like they use a service called Warn Central Texas and ten Texas counties are a part of it. My question to these counties, how much does it cost to operate those tornado sirens? I am sure the system has to have some money put into it, but why not have the sirens as well?
I think some folks tune out notifications because we get so many each and every day. I think not having tornado sirens in Texas is a bad idea.
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