Tornado Warnings are issued by the National Weather Service when a tornado has
been sighted by an officially trained weather spotter or is indicated by radar.
Tornado Warnings are broadcast by local media and by NOAA weather radio.
Tornado sirens operated by Sedgwick County Emergency Management are located in strategic locations
throughout Sedgwick County including the cities of Bel Aire, Kechi, Maize, Park
City, and Wichita. When a tornado warning is issued for any portion of
the county, Sedgwick County Emergency Communications (911 Dispatch) will
activate the sirens. Once activated all sirens within Sedgwick County
except those individually controlled by outlying cities will sound. This
means if a tornado warning is issued for the eastern half of Sedgwick County,
all sirens will be activated including those in west Sedgwick County.
DO NOT CALL 911 when you hear a tornado siren. Instead, first tune
into local media for news and weather reports. If, after doing so, you
believe the siren activation is a malfunction contact Emergency Management at
660-5959.
Sedgwick County tornado sirens are tested every Monday at 12:00 PM (Noon) except
when threatening weather is present.
Tornado Sirens located in the cities of Andale, Bentley, Cheney, Clearwater, Colwich,
Derby, Garden Plain, Goddard, Haysville, Mount Hope, Mulvane, Valley Center and
Viola are activated by the
respective city and are not controlled by Sedgwick County Emergency
Management.
A word about tornado sirens...
Tornado sirens are designed to be an early warning device primarily
for persons who are outside away from the television and/or radio.
Tornado sirens are not frequently heard in homes during Spring and
Summer Months for multiple reasons such as the distance from the siren,
homes being shut up with air conditioners running and people being asleep
during nighttime storms with thunder, rain and wind. For this
reason Emergency Management officials highly recommend citizens keep a NOAA weather alert radio in their homes, preferable in the bedroom, with
a tone alert.
©, Copyright, 2001 Sedgwick County Emergency Management.
last update:
03/16/04
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