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Experts Say Weather Sirens Not Feasible In Florida |
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Written by WESH
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Friday, 10 November 2006 |
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OVIEDO, Fla. -- Radar images taken during Tuesday night's tornado were a scary sight for many people in Central Florida.
Heavy rains were shown in red, and spinning circles showing rotation in the clouds highlighted possible tornadoes.
In fact, an F1 tornado touched down in Seminole County, and a weaker twister caused damage in Orange County.
For people who did not see the warnings on WESH 2 News or WESH.com, would an area-wide network of sirens be the answer?
Safety officials said sirens may be historically popular in other parts of the country, but they don't think they're the answer for Florida in 2006, especially not if the state is starting from scratch.
The people still picking up the pieces after Tuesday's storms said they aren't so sure.
"No warning whatsoever. Absolutely none," said D.D. Sanchez, whose home was destroyed during this week's severe weather.
Sanchez's boys were on their computers, missing the weather warnings from TV or radio when Tuesday's twister removed their roof.
Many other places use rotating sirens to blare out the warning when severe weather is near.
"That might have helped," Sanchez said. "If the kids were aware of a siren system and they heard something like that, they could have had time to get to a secure area."
Thankfully her boys scrambled to safety anyway.
"The thousands and thousands of dollars (it would take) to put into a system like that, it's just not feasible," said Alan Harris of Seminole County's emergency operations center.
Local emergency managers say Florida houses today rarely have the windows open because everyone is running the air conditioning. So, sirens would be muffled or unheard.
Also, since so many people move to the area every day, they may not know what the sirens mean. Could they tell the difference between short bursts of sound or a long blast?
"Depending on where you're from, the tones mean different things. If we start putting these tones out to people from different locations, we could very well confuse them and cause more harm," said Preston Cook of Orange County emergency operations center.
WESH 2's meteorologists do a great job of getting the weather warnings out, but for those who have satellite TV, if the rain is heavy, the picture is likely to go out.
The safety experts advise everyone to have at least one TV hooked to an antenna so the warnings that are put out will be heard in your home.
The experts also urge every home to get a weather radio.
"It will only you when you or your particular area is in danger of some severe weather," Cook said.
Officials also said siren systems are costly to maintain and they worry about installing new ones quick enough as the area continues to expand outward.
On our WESH.com Weather Plus severe weather page, you can subscribe to our weather warnings even when you're away from home. We'll send you bulletins to your cell phone, your pager or your Blackberry.
Local counties will soon be offering similar messaging for all county services, including severe weather.
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http://www.wesh.com/weather/10284564/detail.html
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 16 November 2006 )
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Florida News