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Sirens No Guarantee Against Storm Peril <br />After the tornado and severe weather on April 26th, the City <br />received many calls from concerned residents wanting to know <br />why the sirens weren't sounded. As the safety of our residents <br />is of preeminent importance to the City, we would like to take <br />this opportunity to clarify some misunderstanding about our <br />siren system and emphasize that it provides no guarantee against <br />the dangers of severe weather systems. <br />Sirens require electrical power and, in the case of the <br />April 26th storm, did not work because the NSP substation <br />supplying power to all three of the City's sire:iz was hit <br />before the sirens were sounded by the Nationai Weather Service. <br />Due to the present policy of the National Weather Service to <br />sound the sirens only after a tornado has actually touched <br />down, the risk always exists that power may be cut off before <br />the sirens can be sounded. <br />All of this emphasizes the point that the public cannot depend <br />upon sirens as a fail-safe weather warning system. During the <br />tornado season, most people are already aware that nasty weather <br />is approaching when the sky becomes ominous and turns a <br />greenish -gray in color. When those conditions appear, you <br />should make preparations to seek shelter and tune a battery <br />powered radio to a local station providing weather updates. <br />Please remember that the best protection against the dangers <br />of severe weather is your own vigilance and alert actions. <br />