VERDIGRIS, Okla. — While tornado-warned storms rolled through Green Country over Memorial Day weekend, the tornado sirens in Verdigris remained silent.
“There must have been some sort of a problem. We were thinking why are the sirens not going off,” Patrick Bennett, who lives near a siren, said.
The problem lies in the city’s system for sounding the sirens. In simplest terms, a first responder is charged with calling in to the emergency center. Once the call comes in, the person in charge of sounding the siren will push the button.
Mayor Keith Crawford told 2 News, normal procedure does not require the call to come in before the sirens are sounded. Alas, they did not sound that night.
“Nobody’s upset about it more than we are,” Crawford said.
The sirens themselves are in working order. Mayor Crawford says they were replaced less than two years ago. It was simply a communications failure.
Moving forward, the city is looking at a more modernized system. Their goal is to implement a system that will sound the sirens as soon as the National Weather Service issues a warning; with options to sound it themselves. The goal is to implement that system by the end of 2024. Until then, they have a stop-gap plan in place to mitigate issues.
“It won’t be reliant on an individual,” Crawford said, of the new systems.
Outdoor warning sirens are meant to warn people outdoors. Experts recommend people have multiple ways of seeing weather warnings such as television, radio and cellphone apps.
“We truly are sorry. We’re doing everything we can to make it good again,” Crawford said.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
