When the significant tornado struck downtown Atlanta last Friday night, one thing was conspicuously absent from the areas around the Georgia Dome, Georgia World Congress Center, Philips Arena and Centennial Park: warning sirens.
Now, we are not proponents of relying on sirens to receive your weather warnings, but they do have a place in warning people who are outside around events, large facilities and retail areas.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that DeKalb and Fulton Counties dismantled their outdoor siren systems several years ago because of cost. The only sirens that are in place in the Atlanta metro area are privately funded and supported systems.
The Atlanta tornado has prompted some residents to call for the city to install their own sirens for the protection of citizens and visitors.
One concern about siren systems is overwarning. Sirens generally sound for an entire county as emergency managers don’t have the ability to activate certain sirens. With the new polygon warnings from the National Weather Service, the opportunity is there to select individual alarms.
Another concern is that the sirens are hard to hear in cars, houses, apartments and buildings. Indoor warnings are what NOAA Weather Radios are for.
So, while being weather aware is a matter of personal responsibility, I think that it is important that governments take responsibility in appropriate areas where large numbers of people congregate.
