SENATOBIA, Miss. — It has been one week since an EF-3 tornado ravaged parts of Tate County, leaving behind a path of destruction. The City of Senatobia reported very little damage, but residents were outraged the sirens there malfunctioned when severe weather was so close and threatening.
The Senatobia Fire Department provided audio that was recorded on April 4 during testing of the City’s tornado sirens. The sirens had failed to work on the morning of April 3, when an EF-3 tornado hit Tate County.
Elizabeth Ketchum said she was very concerned because she lives near one of the City’s sirens.
“Very early in the morning, my phone went off, alerting me that we had severe weather. It woke me up. There were no sirens going off,” Ketchum said. “I poked my head out, still no siren.”
Senatobia May Greg Graves quickly issued a statement about the malfunction, saying in part, “Efforts to activate the early warning sirens were made, but unfortunately, they did not function as intended due to possible weather-related interference.”
Testing has since continued, including twice on Thursday at 10 AM and noon. Johnnie Smith was outdoors detailing a vehicle, and he heard the noon siren test.
“The alarm is deep. Matter of fact, you can hear that alarm all the way to Coldwater,” Smith said.
Officials say the alarms are intended to warn people who are outdoors.
WREG inquired about the April 3 siren failure and was told the sirens are owned by the City and activated by the fire department, but what exactly caused the failure has yet to be determined.
Smith is relieved they are working again.
“It’s working now, but the other night, it didn’t go off. I don’t know what reason it didn’t go off, but it didn’t go off.”
WREG has learned that the Senatobia Fire Department plans on testing sirens every Thursday at noon.
The fire department urges you to download the Code Red app to receive weather-related messages.