Weather Alarms

Today, April 27th I heard the first weather alert early this morning, which featured Lamar County Georgia.

Then this morning as I was performing Garden Task I was able to hear the Sirens which signal bad weather.  I was not aware of the time, but with the recent abundance of bad weather I quickly ran into the house and turned on the Audio and Visual Media.  Nothing happening.  I quickly called 911 and was informed that it was the time and day of the week for the normal test.

I discussed the current weather situation with the operator in view of the recent plethora of tornadoes here in Bibb County and she told me that she would make a note of my concerns that the media did not have any coverage of the normal test.

After I hung up I received a phone call from a deputy and he wanted to know if I had recently called 911.  I informed him that I did and I expressed my gratitude that I had a call back, but again I expressed my concern about a lack of media of coverage of the test in view of all the recent severe weather activity.

I also left a long message on the voice mail of our County Commissioner.  After that I returned to the gardens to continue my task.  Soon a deputy blew the horn and I went over to let him know of my concern about the test and no media coverage in view of the recent severe weather.

At one point I dialed WMAZ TV and received the message that if I dialed in the name of a person I desired to talk to I would then have the proper extension given to me.  I punched in "J" "O" "N" "E" "S" and received a message that they had no one with that name.  It appears that the weather man Ben Jones has lost his job at WMAZ. 

In summary, yes, it was the day and time of the weekly test.  Yes we all should know that and never react to a siren; but I did react because of all the severe weather our Country has experienced recently.

I would suggest that the crawl on TV be enabled when there is a test.  Even the popular AM Radio Stations could make the announcement. 

As I reflect back on the sirens of this morning it is a laughing matter, but we all know that a tornado can strike at any time of day or night.  I think that it is essential that our Government and Media cooperate to insure that we never learn to accept a siren as a test.