Why tornado sirens didn’t go off Sunday night in Johnson County
OLATHE, Kan. — On Sunday, two tornadoes touched down in Johnson County, Kansas, but tornado sirens never went off.
The Johnson County Emergency Management team is sharing just what happened and why.
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For starters, they were clear, that in the last 15 years, this is only the second time they could point to where a tornado touched down and there was no warning, meaning no sirens.
So, in other words, this was an anomaly.
FOX4 went to the offices where these dedicated men and women of the Johnson County Emergency Management team work.
One of if not the biggest jobs they have is sounding the sirens when there is a tornado warning.
But after two tornadoes touched down and no sirens were heard, people are wondering why sirens didn’t go off.
Many across Kansas City metro still waiting for power to be restored
“We activate our outdoor warning sirens with very specific criteria’s. One of those being the National Weather Service issues a tornado warning,” Claire Canaan, the assistant director for Community Preparedness for JOCO’s Emergency Management team said.
The other two options include reports from storm spotters sent out by the emergency management team or information from public officials.
None of the three happened.
On top of that, the storms were moving rapidly, so it would have been challenging to issue that warning. The touch downs were also brief.
Most of the damage you may have seen is not from tornadoes but powerful straight-line winds.
“Just be weather aware I know we say that a lot but that really is the first knowing what potentially could happen. Weather just inherently is just unpredictable. You can predict it as best you can but it takes a split second for it to take a totally different path,” Canaan said.
Why tornado sirens sounded across Kansas City Tuesday
There was also a severe thunderstorm warning Sunday night and within those, it details action steps so you can be prepared for anything.
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