The possibility of tornado sirens has been on the horizon for years in Lubbock.
The last time the City had a tornado siren was in May of 1970, that’s when the destructive tornado ripped through Lubbock and destroyed the City-wide sirens which were never rebuilt.
“It only takes what we saw in 1970, one storm, one night, to change peoples lives forever,” said Meteorologist Jody James with the National Weather Service.
Three years ago Lubbock City Council made a Tornado Warning Task Force in order to look into kinds of notifications and alerts for a tornado situation.
The task force was proposed by Mayor Glen Robertson and made up of several city staff members and leaders.
Councilman Victor Hernandez said the task force last met more than a year ago and one of the biggest concerns was how they would fund the costly multi million dollar project to install sirens.
“Council wanted some numbers associated with their thoughts, obviously they are proponents of putting in place the tornado sirens, but we wanted to know how much it was going to cost,” said Councilman Hernandez.
A representative of Lubbock’s National Weather Service is also on the Task Force and advises citizens that live in “Tornado alley” to be responsible for staying informed with up to date weather.
“I don’t necessarily think outdoor sirens are the be all end all when it comes to warning systems, we live in an era where there are more ways to get tornado alerts like on smart phones, weather radio systems– which have been around for awhile– the internet, so we have ways that previous generations never even dreamed of getting warnings,” said Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Jody James.
Councilman Hernandez said decisions for tornado sirens will have to be discussed once a new City Council and Mayor are elected next month.
“The official warning comes from the National Weather Service and then local communities decide how to get that word out,” said James.
EverythingLubbock.com offers an App for iPhone users with weather updates.
Texas Tech campus is the only area in Lubbock where there are tornado sirens. Wolfforth has sirens in place under their water tower.