February 28, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Smithville’s new tornado alert sirens will be activated during a scheduled statewide tornado drill by the National Weather Service on Wednesday, March 3 at 9:30 a.m. as part of Tennessee’s Severe Weather Awareness Week (February 28 to March 6). The drill will also include a statewide test of NOAA weather radios.. Monthly testing of the Smithville tornado sirens will also be held on the first Wednesday of each month at noon except for inclement weather.
The tornado sirens are located on the grounds of the city’s water tower on Highway 70 near DeKalb Middle/High School, near the city water tower on Miller Road, and on top of city hall downtown Smithville.
(The video below shows the test of the siren on Miller Road in December).
DeKalb County Emergency Management is observing this week to promote preparedness for Tennesseans.
During severe weather providing the public with life-saving alerts and warnings quickly is imperative and the tornado one year ago in neighboring Putnam County underscores the need for all to be vigilant.
The National Weather Service offices in Nashville, Memphis, Morristown, and Huntsville, Alabama are planning a series of education and training events, using each day of Severe Weather Awareness Week to focus on a different severe weather threat. Information on the NWS activities is available at weather.gov/ohx/swaw2021.
In DeKalb County, residents also have access to a service called Hyper-Reach, a state of the art mass emergency notification system, designed specifically for public safety, according to Brad Mullinax, Director of the DeKalb Emergency Communications District (E-911). Through Hyper-Reach residents can get automatic tornado warning alerts over landline telephones or cell phones the moment they are issued for DeKalb County.
(Click link below to sign up)
Landline phones are automatically registered but weather alerts to mobile phones are only included by enrolling in the system.
“When the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning it is based on a polygon so it may be for only one area of the county. You may see on TV that DeKalb County is under a tornado warning but it may really be only for the northern or southern portion of the county. It may not always affect the entire county. This system will notify hundreds of people within a minute. It is very fast in the notification process and I encourage everyone to sign up for this,” said Mullinax.
Charlie Parker, DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, said he also recommends people registering for the service.
“Even though there are multiple ways of getting weather alerts including from TV and radio, storms can cause interruption in service. Even with the storm last year, Comcast and other cable and TV providers were down so you can’t always count on those for the information you need. We strongly encourage everyone to have more than one way of getting storm alerts. You can also get a weather alert radio. Those are battery operated and programmable for your county. There are apps you can download on your phone. Red Cross also has an app you can download. The biggest thing is don’t get complacent. Sometimes we are bombarded with threats and warnings and get to the place where we don’t pay attention to them. When it comes to severe weather always take it seriously,” said Parker.
The service is free and you may register for the weather alerts by visiting www.dekalb911.org and clicking the link or by clicking the link below.
“There is a link on our website (dekalb 911.org) to click for a community weather alert sign up. It will allow you to register a cell phone. If you do have a home landline telephone your number is already registered by your house number in the system and you will automatically get the weather alerts without any further action from you. If you do not have home landline telephone service or if you want to register your cell phone in addition to your home landline phone you can go to our signup page and do that. It will make a phone call to you with a pre-recorded message and or it will also send you a text message or an email to notify you as well in the event there is a tornado warning that has been issued for the affected area,” said Mullinax
If anyone has questions or needs help programming their weather radio contact Charlie Parker at dekalbtnema@gmail.com., DeKalb Emergency Management on facebook, or at the Smithville Fire Department at 615-597-4141.
Some basic severe weather advice includes:
•Never venture into high water, either on foot or in a vehicle.
•If you’re outside and hear thunder, go indoors immediately.
•Go to a basement or an innermost, first floor room in your home if you’re told to take shelter during a tornado warning.
•Know the location of and route to your office or building’s tornado shelter.
•Never try to outrun a tornado.
•Have an emergency plan ready at places where your family spends time – work, school, daycare, commuting and outdoor events.
•Emergency plans should include where to meet, and who family members should check in with, if you are separated from family members during a severe weather emergency.
At a minimum, emergency preparedness kits should include one gallon of water per-day, per-person, and per-pet, for three to five days. The kit should also have enough non-perishable food for each family member, and pets, for three to five days.
Other items that every kit should include: flashlight, battery-powered radio, extra batteries, first aid kit, personal hygiene items, cell phone charger or solar charger, copies of important family documents, and extra supplies of medications, especially for those with chronic health conditions
Additional resources are available:
•ready.gov
•emergency.cdc.gov/preparedness/kit/disasters
•http://www.sba.gov/managing-business/running-business/emergency-preparedness
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