Here’s your open thread for the week. What’s going on out there? Here’s me: my tomatoes got hammered in all the rain, I can’t wait to see the new Star Trek and I’m hooked on Jon Le and Julie Wunder tweets. You?
I’ve been thinking about Asheville’s collective response to the tornado warning issued yesterday. From what I saw, it appeared to me that folks took thoughtful, appropriate action when the National Weather Service warned that radar showed what appeared to be a tornado in southeastern Buncombe County.
Grocery stores broadcast the warning over their public address systems. Folks in the Biltmore building downtown, with all of its glass, were moved to lower building levels. Offices and schools asked workers and students to move into hallways and the centers of buildings for protection.
I can’t remember the last time the National Weather Service issued an warning about an actual tornado in Buncombe County, and I’ve never heard of such a widespread community response. But I think it was just about right. Nobody freaked out, and nobody was hurt.
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The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life.
My cousin has an iphone and shes with AT&T they are charging her extra for texting people in Canada.
Is there a way for her to get free texting to Canada?
I called the Skyland FD, and the reported they didn’t have any sort of emergency weather sirens.
I remember hearing sirens a few years ago. Maybe during the floods in 2004. I live in Oakley and they seemed to come from Biltmore. But it was definitely in the last 5 years.
Star Trek, baby! That’s all that matters. I am fired up.
Technology, which is at the whim of power, is no substitute for hardened-CD systems… I have spotted at least 3 sirens in and around downtown, so they do exist.
The question is, why were they not used.
Asheville is at extreme danger from tornadoes for 2 reasons… 1, they don’t come often, so preparedness is low and
2. There is not much time (thnk elevation) between sighting in sky and coming down.
we were lucky yesterday, very lucky
Best post of ’em all: "Rained like a cow pissing on a flat rock…"
Don’t live in Buncombe County so I can’t vouch for their reaction but I thought WLOS did a very good job yesterday morning of their coverage on-air. Julie Wunder held her own presenting the coverage. I just still wished the folks at WLOS knew how to use their radar to its maximum ability.
Thanks for all the great comments!
Yes, many large cities have extensive sirens to warn of tornadoes. Specifically, I know that Dallas, Atlanta and Nashville all have such systems.
A text alert system works best for smaller areas such as a college campus community.
There is no substitute for a siren system in major metro areas it reaches the largest number of people in short order.
And what about the folks who don’t have cell phones?
Older people don’t text. If the county could send out a mass telephone call like the Buncombe County School system does about certain events that would be cool.
Growing up in Savannah GA, I have seen water spouts but never a Tornado.
Day turned into night in the Leicester area as all the tornado hype was going on. Rained like a cow pissing on a flat rock for 5 minutes then stopped completely.
I wanted to get the video camera and try the Discovery Channel Storm Chaser thing but Nancy put her foot down and made me stay put! 🙁 Boo Hoo!
I can remember a tornado warning in Buncombe County a few years ago. A funnel cloud formed over downtown. I think WLOS had some pictures of it. It never touched down.
I was standing in the service center of the old "Autohaus of Asheville" waiting to in line to get a part for my VW convertible. They had a TV tuned to 13 and WLOS broke in to the programing to announce the warning. It would have been some time between ’92 and ’96, I think.
It was in 99 that we had our last tornado –
Referenced here in an AC-T article:
http://citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090507/NEWS01/905070358/1250
Agreed – there was no city response. Asheville Schools had the courtesy to call and play a robo-message that let me know the students had been prepared & they were safe. I got tons of tweets from the Mtn X & Citizen-Times – but nothing, not an email alert or anything from the city. In an era where communication is more connected & immediate than ever before, there is no excuse to not have some sort of emergency alert system in place for citizens. It’s great we have some wonderful independent media infrastructure to help inform citizens, but this is a definite issue for the city to tackle: emergency response preparedness & public information.
It’s my hope that Sylvia Farrington makes the jump into the City Council race, her strong FEMA background would do well to help Asheville tackle such challenges. With climate change and weather extremes, we can never think we are safe just because we are in the mountains.
BTW – the last time I remember a tornado in AVL was in 1998 or 99. It was a small one that came up Hendersonville Rd, touched down near Biltmore Ave, and at some point came over towards McDowell St. It hit Asheville High School & took the roof off of the dance studio in the Arts complex. I was taking video production at the time and we were counting our blessings since we were next door to the dance studio & that the roof over all of our equipment had stayed in tact, albeit the expensive wooden sprung dance floor was ruined.
I know Georgia still uses the siren alert system. My daugher lives outside Atlanta and she’s heard them a few times this year.
Sirens are still very prevalent where I grew up at and in other tornado prone areas…it was actually strange to me to know there was a tornado warning yesterday and NOT hear sirens…it was always how you knew something nasty might be going down. It definitely is an eerie sound though when you hear them.
There was a tornado warning back in 1997. BTW, I was laying on the hot pad treatment table at my chiropractors when everyone was freaking.
Yes, absolutely they do. Especially in places where it’s an actual possibility that they get hit.
Cell phone texts? Are you serious? What percentage of people would this actually reach?
I remember tornado sirens going off one night in Asheville in 1999. That’s the only time I’ve ever heard one. I spent an hour in my basement holding my baby.
Bill, do people still use sirens for tornado warnings? It seems so old-fashioned. I think a smart city emergency management system should be offering text alerts to cell phones or something for cases of emergency.
Except for the complete lack of response from city/county officials. Did anyone hear a tornado siren?
Does Asheville HAVE tornado sirens?
The NWS and citizens did a great job, agreed.