Randolph County prepares for severe weather after the deadly 2006 tornado killed four residents.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the deadly tornado that killed four people in Randolph County in March of 2006. Since the 2006 tornado, Randolph County says they’re better prepared for a future disaster if one took place in their county.
In 2006, the town of Renick had no siren system to alert the residents of potential and current severe weather that was taking place. Since then, five and a half years later, the town of Renick received money to fund a brand new siren system that would alert their residents of severe weather.
According to Sheriff Nichols of Randolph County Sheriff Department, a tornado is hard to predict but does believe that it could have perhaps help prevent the death of the two residents in the town of Renick.
Randolph County says they’re better prepared if a tornado were to ever happen again. Sheriff Nichols says ,”We (Fire Department, Police Department, Highway Patrol) work well together as a team, and everyone knows what everyone has to do.”
Adding several new siren systems to the County has may benefits of course, but there was a downside. The siren systems in the County are outdated, many of them created back in the 1960’s- which means the technology is over 55 years behind.
Chief Robert Creed with Moberly Fire Department says that the major difference between the older siren system and the new siren system is that, ” in the case of a power outage the newer system is battery operated. Which means, if the power were to go out we have 20 minutes of backup battery available to be able to use the siren system in severe weather. The older systems would just die in a power outage, and that leaves no siren system available.”
Chief Creed told ABC 17 that the County is working hard to get all the older systems replaced to newer ones.
The Fire Department and Police Department do want to remind residents of Mid Missouri that the siren system is primarily for those individuals outside. Alerting them to get indoors quickly. For any indoor residents, signing up for the Code Red system would alert you on your phone of any potential weather dangers in your area.
