[NLRS] Storm in Rogers

[Bryce Denker]

Thank you guys for your insight on this! I am  the Emergency
Management/Homeland Security Coordinator in my County (Clay in Iowa) I wish
that ALL people felt as you do? I do not know what happened to alittle self
responsibility? Thanks again and hopes all works out in the "HIT" areas!
Bryce Denker NØSPP
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Doug Reed" <n0nas at amsat.org>
To: "NLRS" <nlrs at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [NLRS] Storm in Rogers


>
>
> Hi Tom.
>
> Your comments sound accurate to me. I don't know anything about the
> storm or the events leading up, but what you've said sounds exactly like
>   things were done according to policy.
>
> 1. Sirens are OUTDOOR warning devices. They are not called "outdoor"
> because they are on telephone poles. They are called outdoor because
> that is where they are expected to be heard. Why do these idiots bitch
> about can't hear the sirens and then turn around and say airplanes are
> too noisy?
>
> 2. Every TV, Radio, and cable company are required to put crawl messages
> on the bottom of your TV screen and to rebroadcast audio from the SAME
> warning messages. So if the TV or radio had been on when the weather
> warnings were issued, they would have seen the warnings. But few people
> pay attention to watches and storm warnings.
>
> 3. A SAME weather radio is intended to be programmed to go off only when
> there are weather alerts for your county and it is inside your house to
> wake you when the warning is sent. That will usually give you 15-30
> minutes of warning, but in a situation like Rogers, it might only be
> seconds or a few minutes. But that could still be enough to save your
> life and your family. It will not help the people where the first
> touch-down occurred, but people up the track will get some warning.
>
> 4. If the county set off the sirens for every warning, then people would
> bitch that nothing happened. It is clearly a no-win situation. Damned if
> you do, damned if you don't. No matter what the policy, the news people
> will always be able to find someone to spout off about "no warning" or
> "nothing happened." As far as I know, in the metro area only Dakota
> County has a policy of sounding the sirens for every severe storm
> warning. All others sound for tornado warnings.
>
> In my opinion, the final responsibility for keeping yourself safe lies
> with you, the individual. If I ignore 99 warnings and the 100th includes
> a tornado, that is my own responsibility, not yours or the county or the
> NWS. The NWS makes a good faith effort to let the public know about
> dangerous situations. If I'm too dumb to pay attention, there is only
> one person to blame.
>
> This subject does hit my hot button a bit....
>
> 73, Doug Reed, N0NAS.
>
> "Think of it as evolution in action."
>  From "Oath of Fealty" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.
>
> tom ring wrote:
> >
> > While at the 10G cumulative fixed spot yesterday I was told that John is
fine.
> > He was in the southern part of Rogers, and the storm was more to the
north.
> >
> > The destruction is quite bad.  200 homes damaged, 50 destroyed.  One 10
year
> > old girl was killed; the reports are she was with her brother at a
neighbour's
> > house babysitting.  I may be wrong on that, the reports weren't really
clear
> > this morning.
> >
> > The tornado developed so quickly that the warning sirens went off after
the
> > tornado was on the ground.  This happened after dark, so no spotters saw
it
> > develop.  Listening to the news, it looks like the county government is
going
> > to blame the National Weather Service, even though they had issued a
tornado
> > watch several hours earlier, as well as a severe thunderstorm WARNING.
There
> > were also complaints that they could not hear the sirens inside the
house -
> > they are designerd to be heard outdoors.  This county, Hennepin, does
NOT sound
> > the sirens for severe thunderstorm warnings, while many others do, so
the
> > people did not get that warning.  I have my own opinions about the
county that
> > I won't bother to pass on.  My advice is to buy a weather alert radio if
you
> > don't have one.  Cheap insurance.
> >
> > tom
> > K0TAR
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