Lowndes County EMA advises having several ways to get alerts
MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – Severe weather can strike in any season in Mississippi, and Lowndes County’s Emergency Services Director said to make sure you have more than one way to get alerts.
Recently the county was alerted to the fact that two of its tornado warning sirens weren’t working, leaving residents near Propost Park in Columbus and those along Cal-Kolola Road near Caledonia with one less warning method in case of a tornado.
The county sirens are aging, and when they break down it sometimes takes weeks to get parts to repair them.
They can also be affected by power outages since some of them do not have batteries or generator backup systems.
The devices were designed mainly to warn people who are outdoors, and Lowndes County Emergency Services Director, Cindy Lawrence said it’s vital that residents have other ways to get warnings and alerts.
“So, we still tell people, ‘Don’t rely on the tornado sirens. Please, rely on your cellphone or your NOAA Weather Radio’. The NOAA Weather Radio also has backup batteries. It can use batteries or electricity, but you can still hear anything going on between Lowndes County and Oktibbeha County. I usually do it for Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Lowndes, and Clay to see if there’s anything going on around. We’ll know what’s going on in our area if there’s any tornado warnings,” said Lawrence.
Lawrence said Lowndes County tests its sirens on the first Wednesday of each month at 10 a.m. If you don’t hear the siren near you, please report it to the county, so they can check it out.
