Residents Voice Concern Over Tornado Sirens In St. Louis County

ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KTVI-FOX2now.com)?

For residents of St. Louis County, especially those living near the path taken by the Good Friday tornado, early warnings can not come early enough.?

But some are not sure that's what they got this time.

"After about 10 to 15 minutes of the storm we heard the sirens go off and then we all went downstairs," said Bridgeton resident Tim Branneky.

But St. Louis County Public Works Director Garry Earls thinks some residents may be confused because there were several severe storms in the area, but only one that carried with it a tornado warning.

"There had been a thunderstorm through Maryland Heights that was really very violent with hail and damaging wind, no tornado warning but a storm that passed through at about 1:15 am to 1:30 am range," Earls said.

It was not until 2:35 am that the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for St. Louis County, and Earls says within five minutes of the notification, the county's sirens were sounding.

"The storm that we sounded the siren for, we have a track on it that it passed over the Oakville area at 2:56 this morning so those people got what we think is about 16 minutes or so of warning on that storm," Earls said.

Meanwhile, at 2:47 am, the City of St. Louis sounded its sirens even though the city was not included in the tornado warning.

Ironically, the city's fire chief, who lives near the county line, decided to sound the alarm after he was awakened by the county's sirens.

"We set them off. It was the middle of the night, we were worried about people sleeping and the winds were really hammering my house so we did set them off, I`d rather be safe than sorry, " said Chief Dennis Jenkerson, adding, "I guess I owe everybody an hour of sleep."

The county reminds residents that storm sirens are designed only to warn people outdoors, and that the best way to protect yourself from a storm that comes in the middle of the night, and especially in the middle of winter when the windows are closed is to buy a weather radio.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5766730560

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