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photo by Hannah Reel
Entergy lineman Joseph Deer connects power to the tornado siren recently installed on U.S. 61 North.
County installs tornado siren in Washington
Published Monday, June 22, 2009
NATCHEZ — Washington residents are now under the protection of Adams County’s growing network of tornado sirens.
Wednesday afternoon Entergy workers hooked up the newest siren meant to alert residents to potential tornadic activity.
And Wednesday’s installation was years in the making.
Adams County Supervisor Darryl Grennell said it was four years ago when the Adams County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate enough money to install one siren in the county for each of the upcoming four years.
“It was something that we felt was important to do for the county’s residents,” Grennell said.
But in 2008 when former Adams County Civil Defense Director George Souderes left office and current director Stan Owens took over, no siren was installed, Grennell said.
“We didn’t put one up that year,” Grennell said. “But now we’re on track and it’s done.”
Sirens have been previously installed in the Morgantown and Liberty Road areas.
Owens said between the siren system and the new CodeRed Weather Warning, an automated calling system for dangerous weather, residents are better protected.
“They’re pretty well covered now,” Owens said. “They have the sirens outside and they can sign up for CodeRed.”
And while the sirens are expensive, approximately $23,000 each, Owens is exploring grant options that could provide funding for several more sirens in the future.
“We want to have as many as we can to cover the county,” Owens said.
Comments
Posted by rushinghjr (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 12:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The writer of this subject story should have advised all County Residents of the procedure to sign up for the "Code Red"! I'm sure the writer would have been given the info if the question would have been asked? Also, the County Supervisor should have also given the info out to the writer. It sure does not hurt to give the same info over and over when it is very important!
Posted by veroniss (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 5:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WHAT IS CODE RED?I DO LIKE THE SIRENS.I LIVE ONE MILE FROM MORGANTOWN AND I HEARD THE SIRENS GOING OFF ...THANK YOU FOR TAKING CARE OF ALL OF US....
Posted by darylwalker (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 6:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
People can sign up for the Code Red service from here: http://www.adamscountyms.net/departments...
And all I have to say to this article is it's about time.
Posted by mommyagain (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 6:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I tried to sign up for code red, and I was sent an e-mail to check the longitude and latitude of my address. I really didn't worry about it after that. What kind of shigidy is that? I hope I never have a serious emergency and call 911 but cannot be found!
Posted by babev1 (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 6:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I just wish that where I live that you could hear them with out being outside in the storm. If you are in your house or in bed and they go off and it raining really had you have to open the door to hear if they are going off. If you ac is on or your TV before the lights go off you can not hear them go off they are not just loud enough. And there is nothing wrong with the hearing of anyone that lives in my house.
Posted by Krogers (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 7:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
glad to see this we need early warning
but the way this article reads I'm not sure whether the sirens go off for only possible tornadic weather or any dangerous weather condition
we have had more damage from straight line winds than tornadoes over the years. I'm thinking the occurrence of straight line winds are more frequent, but tornadoes are probably more destructive per incidence.
I'm saying that the sirens should go off when ANY DESTRUCTIVE WIND is likely to hit-- maybe for any wind over 50- 60mph?
$23,000 per siren is hugely expensive, I wonder if they will go off if their primary power supply has been interrupted? Do they have back up power? Such as batteries? For $23,000 they should be able to detect damaging weather situation, go off automatically, and be able to make the loud alarm even without power......
that's right babev1, for $23,000 EACH you'd think these sirens would be so loud your house would shake......
not much technical or performance detail in the article
personally, I don't have much faith in this Code Red idea, trying to call everyone in the county is kinda over the top, if I were to get a phone call telling me a tornado was coming, I'd probably try to run home and get caught in the tornado instead of taking cover......this may do more harm than good, and in a strong storm the phones, power lines, cableTV lines, and cell phone towers are all destroyed simultaneously and not to be relied on...Don't get me wrong it's a great idea, but I don't think we should replace good judgement and personal monitoring of ongoing weather with any high faluting complex high tech system that is likely to fail.....
seems like during the last tornado, which was a half mile wide, the sirens weren't even turned on until the tornado was already here and the storm was so intense no one ever heard the sirens, so maybe there should be more emphasis on the training of the Civil Defense staff and their constant readiness
Posted by stormchaser54 (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 9:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have "Code Red" on both my house and cell phones. Believe me, it has come in handy many times with all the past storms that went through here; I live in the country!!! I suggest to everyone to go to the link and get it!
Posted by c_8512 (anonymous) on June 22, 2009 at 10:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The Code Red system works extremely well. Along with a weather radio($20 at Radio Shack), no one can possibly say that they were not informed of severe weather entering our area.
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