Raising the alarm: Lubbock installing tornado sirens as part of outdoor warning system

Alex Driggars
·2 min read
A Lubbock Power & Light lineman connects the new tornado siren to the electric supply after it was raised into position Tuesday.
A Lubbock Power & Light lineman connects the new tornado siren to the electric supply after it was raised into position Tuesday.

The City of Lubbock is one step closer to having a functioning outdoor warning system after city crews installed one of the system's tornado sirens in the Tech Terrace neighborhood Tuesday morning.

Lubbock Power & Light employees erected the city's 16th siren in front of the McCullough Substation at 30th Street and Elgin Avenue, just across from Hutchinson Middle School.

This is just one of 45 sirens planned to go up around the city, according to Joe Moudy, director of the Office of Emergency Management for the City of Lubbock. Moudy said the outdoor warning system is a long-awaited and important piece of the puzzle when it comes to keeping Lubbock citizens safe during severe weather.

"It started back in 2008 with some citizen advisory committees that determined that we needed to have a multi-faceted approach to alerting the public of impending severe weather. This is one of those tools and layers of notifying the public," Moudy said. "We have LBKAlert, we have our weather radios, we have Wireless Emergency Alerts, and this is another layer to that."

This Federal Signal tornado siren installed Tuesday was sold to the City of Lubbock as part its agreement with Goddard Enterprises of Oklahoma. The new outdoor warning system should be completed by the second quarter of this year, the city says.
This Federal Signal tornado siren installed Tuesday was sold to the City of Lubbock as part its agreement with Goddard Enterprises of Oklahoma. The new outdoor warning system should be completed by the second quarter of this year, the city says.

Moudy said the outdoor warning system should cover the entire city and will have a special focus on parks, playgrounds and other outdoor areas where people tend to congregate. He said Goddard Enterprises, the firm that designed the system, determined the placement of the sirens based on sound mapping and that the sirens work together in a "mesh network."

"They build on each other. One siren by itself will not function as well as having three or four sirens around helping propagate that sound," Moudy said.

Once all of the sirens are installed and programmed, the system will become operational and will activate only during a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service. If a warning only covers a portion of the city, only the sirens within the affected area will sound, Moudy added.

A crew from Lubbock Power & Light works to raise the city's newest tornado siren on Tuesday morning at 30th Street and Elgin Avenue. This is the 16th of 45 sirens the City of Lubbock plans to install.
A crew from Lubbock Power & Light works to raise the city's newest tornado siren on Tuesday morning at 30th Street and Elgin Avenue. This is the 16th of 45 sirens the City of Lubbock plans to install.

The City of Lubbock initially budgeted around $1 million for the project and approved a contract with the Oklahoma-based Goddard Enterprises in February 2021 for $710,415, the Avalanche-Journal reported at the time.

Once the sirens are operational, the public will be able to find more information on system testing and activation on the City of Lubbock Emergency Management webpage. Moudy said that residents will be notified in advance of siren tests.

The outdoor warning system is expected to come online in the second quarter of 2022.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock installing tornado sirens as part of outdoor warning system