Tornado sirens could have saved lives

[Robert Gift]

I know Florida can have plenty of thunderstorms with spectacular lightning.
As a severe storm spotter, I thought Florida had plenty of tornadoes and/or potential for tornadoes.
Please correct me.

They should get all their inactive sirens working again.
But I can understand their NOT spending lots of money for new sirens which will likely never be needed -if they rarely have surprise tornadoes.

Would reverse 911 be useful for nighttime tornado warnings?

[SirenMadness]

A reverse 911 call is only for alerting people of danger that does not have a known routine warning for it. Tornadoes, at any time of the day or night, should be known of their presence through sirens.

[Robert Gift]

If they don't have sirens, and cannot afford the cost, why not Reverse 911?
Reverse 911 is better than nothing, and may even be better than a siren which may not be heard indoors above the din of rain and wind.

I can understand NOT installing expensive sirens if they will likely never be used.

But I thought Florida would have sirens everywhere because I thought they had lots of tornadoes.

The City of Englewood, Colorado, has only two sirens, which did not operate when fire dispatch tested them.
But, in many decades, they have never had a need to operate.
So, I can understand their unwillingness to spend money to fix them.

[Whelen Rules]

Florida does actually have quite a few tornadoes and most are not associated with hurricanes. A lot of times you will have waterspouts that move inland however they are rarely publicized. I can also see why they wouldn't want to install new sirens however they could install refurbrished/ restored CD sirens. However if they couldn't afford sirens I do believe their are National Homeland Security grants available for purchasing sirens.

[RedAlpha]

When you mean Reverse 911, is that when the emergency services call you? I haven't really heard about that before.

[Robert Gift]

When you mean Reverse 911, is that when the emergency services call you? I haven't really heard about that before.

Yes.
I believe a voice recording is made, then all the business and residential telephones in an area are called.
If/when answered, the recording plays the message.

I believe they can expand or narrow the area whose telephones are called, so no need to call the south area of a county for a tornado on the north end.

[2001srnfan]

Reverse 911 isn't fast enough for tornado warnings. It usually takes several minutes to call groups of households.

[CDV777-1]

Here we go again.
For the millionth time....
Sirens are for outdoor warning, not waking people up at 3am.
They aren't alarm clocks. Sirens are for warning those who
are outdoors only. Yeah, those who live close to the sirens would
probably be roused from sleep by the siren but that's not what
sirens are for.

[Robert Gift]

Really sad about those people hit at 3 a.m.
As a storm chaser and spotter, I would not have expected it then at this time of year, and therefore would not have been prepared for one.

If daytime, I would have been sky-watching.

I think Reverse 911 would have been good - if it didn't take too long to reach the people who happened to be hit.

[holler]

Here we go again.
For the millionth time....
Sirens are for outdoor warning, not waking people up at 3am.
They aren't alarm clocks. Sirens are for warning those who
are outdoors only. Yeah, those who live close to the sirens would
probably be roused from sleep by the siren but that's not what
sirens are for.

Unless it is a T-135