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A Year After Deadly Twisters, Florida Still Falls Short In Warnings

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 21, 2008

Florida recently marked the one-year anniversary of deadly tornadoes that swept the central part of the state, killing 21 people in a heart-wrenching display of devastation.

How soon we forget.

The shortcomings in Florida's emergency-alert system - identified after the Feb. 2, 2007, tornadoes - still largely exist today. Only a few communities have installed siren systems, and Florida has yet to embrace tiered "layers of protection."

Instead, the state's boldest move was to give residents a tax break on weather radios during last year's sales tax holiday for hurricane preparedness.

Yet as a line of storms swept across the state this month, Central Floridians relying on weather radios were left vulnerable because faulty telephone circuits silenced the National Weather Service's radio transmission.

So when residents most needed their weather radios, they didn't work.

That's why Florida communities need redundant warning systems - in case one fails.

Cell phone alerts work, but only if people have their cell phones on. Sirens might be ignored or confused with car alarms. And while helpful, reverse 911 isn't nimble enough to call tens of thousands of homes in the path of approaching storms.

But create a system where overlapping methods are used and more people will get the warnings and be able to take cover.

Florida's spring storms tend to strike in the dead of night, when people are asleep and not tuned in to local weather broadcasts. Yet only Oviedo and Winter Park have created siren systems to fill the void, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The sirens were comparatively cheap; government spent just $146,000 in Oviedo and $139,000 in Winter Park.
Emergency management officials say sirens don't work well in urban areas because people will confuse them with car alarms. Those in rural areas seem to dismiss them as not practical in wide-open spaces. Funny thing is, states in the Midwest have used sirens for generations and no one there seems to think their neighbor's car is being broken into when a killer storm is bearing down on them.

If Florida keeps looking for a foolproof tornado warning system, we'll never find one. A tiered approach is the proper path.

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