Manitowoc County has many ways to warn people if bad weather is coming their way.
Rhonda Green, the Manitowoc County Emergency Services Director, says that the main way they warn people is with warning sirens.
Manitowoc now has 26 sirens, 10 of which are in the city.
Although these sirens are useful to get those outside to safety, they don’t do much for people inside buildings.
Green explains, “The thing to remember, that’s most important, an outdoor warning siren was designed to be heard when you are outside, never on the inside. Now, if you heard them when you were inside, you were lucky.”
For people who are inside during a weather emergency, there are several things that can be done to see if you need to take shelter.
“You can look outside; we have weather apps on our phones,” Green told us. “If the weather doesn’t look good and you do not have a weather app or a smart device, you can turn on your radio station, your local TV station. They’re going to be blaring out those warnings and notifications. And we do have weather radios, and they are available in our office.”
Another tactic they use to alert people is Everbridge.
This is a mass notification system, so if there is bad weather or any kind of emergency in your area, Everbridge will let you know.
Green says that warning sirens are very useful in keeping people safe and shouldn’t be ignored.
If you hear a siren near you, get to a safe shelter immediately.
“When there’s a tornado siren, people should take notice,” Green stated.
Once alerted that there may be severe weather in your area, make sure to take cover.
If outside, lie as flat as possible on the ground and cover your head.
If you’re inside, there are a couple safe spots that you can go.
“If you do not have a basement, find your innermost room, closet, or under a stairwell,” she advised. “Lay as flat as you can, cover your head. Bathtubs ae a good source, if there’s no window in that bathroom, and it’s not on the outer part of the house.”
All sirens in the county are aligned, so if one goes off, so do the others.
Sirens are triggered once the city gets alerts from weather spotters that a tornado may be touching down soon.
Manitowoc is using these warning sirens to make sure everyone stays as safe as possible during weather emergencies.
For more information, visit Weather.gov.
