Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovetv
It can be done. And considering "Florida is the 2nd most likely state to experience tornado activity", it would be nice if people did not pooh-pooh the idea.
"OUTDOOR TORNADO SIREN WARNING SYSTEM
The Oviedo (FL) City Council has invested in an Outdoor Tornado Siren Warning System as part of a comprehensive approach towards mass alerting for tornado severe weather events. Tornadoes are one of the most destructive severe weather events that often result in serious injuries and loss of life and Florida is the second most likely state to experience tornado activity.
The Outdoor Tornado Siren Warning System consists of numerous sirens strategically located within the Oviedo community. Each siren emits a 130 dB siren tone which covers approximately a 1 mile outdoor range......
OUTDOOR TORNADO SIREN WARNING SYSTEM | City of Oviedo, Florida |
This report sums up the conclusions after the tornado that hit The Villages.
Quick Response Report 193 | Natural Hazards Center
The Groundhog Day Florida Tornadoes:
A Case Study of High-Vulnerability Tornadoes
Kevin M. Simmons
Department of Economics
Austin College
Sherman, Texas
Daniel Sutter
Department of Economics
University of Texas–Pan American
Edinburg, Texas
2007
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An excerpt:
Tornado Sirens and Fatalities in the February 2 Tornadoes
Lake County, like most other counties in Florida, does not have tornado sirens. The lack of sirens produced controversy in the aftermath of the Groundhog Day tornadoes, and many residents were upset. One resident of Lake County whose home was destroyed remarked, “What we need is a damn siren! Some kind of wake-up call! There’s a lot of people who got hurt and killed” (quoted in Damron 2007). Other residents appeared under the impression that the area did have sirens and figured that sirens would alert them if there was a tornado, so a lack of blaring sirens was interpreted as implying no danger. Tiefenbacher et al. (2001) found that residents of Siren, Wisconsin, expected the town’s sirens to sound during a June 2001 tornado event, but the town’s sirens had been knocked out by a lightning strike the month prior. Table 1 illustrated that a large proportion of Lake and Sumter County residents had recently moved to Florida. If new Floridians were from states where sirens are prevalent, they may assume their new Florida community has sirens. The lack of a siren warning may result in an entirely unwarranted sense of security.
City and county officials in Florida faced pressure to install sirens in the aftermath of the event, and 26 of 28 officials surveyed by The Orlando Sentinel indicated an interest in installing sirens. Officials stated several factors to explain their reluctance to date to invest in sirens. New, energy efficient homes are more sound resistant, and many Floridians keep their homes buttoned up with the air conditioning running much of the year, so officials wondered if residents today could actually hear sirens. The high proportion of elderly residents, many with hearing losses, contributes to doubts about whether residents would hear sirens. And sirens in rural areas could be quite costly per resident. Many Florida officials view the purchase of NOAA Weather Radios by residents as a superior alternative to public tornado sirens.