Jeremy Brilliant/Eyewitness News
Marion County - If you were in Marion County Monday afternoon you may have heard them: tornado sirens going off even though there was no tornado watch or warning. Officials say the storms were severe and therefore the sirens needed to be activated.
At 30th and Lafayette Road on the northwest side Monday around 4:00 pm, the weather was severe and sirens were going off.
"The person that was running our EOC and that was in charge of the sirens made the determination by watching the weather and identifying that we were getting 60 mile an hour gusts and torrential rain, that type of thing. That we wanted to warn people, wanted to notify them," said Debbie Fletcher, Marion County Emergency Management.
Even without the immediate threat of a tornado, the staffer was well within Marion County guidelines for activating sirens. The guidelines stipulate a National Weather Service issued tornado warning, a tornado watch with a severe thunderstorm warning or the discretion of emergency management staff.
County officials say Monday's storm was moving in extremely fast and the combination multiple lightning strikes and high winds created a potentially dangerous situation - as dangerous, they say, as a tornado.
In the Indianapolis Metro area, only Hancock County sounds sirens ONLY when there's a tornado warning. Other counties activate sirens during various other scenarios like a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warning.
In Hamilton County, the individual cities, towns and townships own the tornado sirens but the county emergency management agency activates them on their behalf.
"If the owners of the sirens call up and say, 'Hey, I want my siren activated,' then we'll activate on that as well," said David Bice, Hamilton County EMA.
Which means each city, town or township has control over when the warning goes out. But it's not always necessary to make that call.
"The outdoor warning sirens are automatically set off whenever a tornado warning is issued by the National Weather Service. We have a program in place that will activate only the warning sirens that are within the warning polygon whether it be for a small area or county-wide," said Bice.
In April 2006, it was straight line winds, not a tornado, that caused millions of dollars in damage to the Regions Bank building downtown. Still, some worry about the overuse of warning sirens that can desensitize people.
"I think it just causes a lot of confusion. I think people get confused about what's actually going on. I mean, what's actually happening right now?" said Kimberly Woods, Indianapolis resident.
"It used to be years and years ago, it was a warning. It meant tornadoes in the area. It really is not so much any more as it is an alert to let you know something's happening. If you're outside, you need to get inside and find out more," said Fletcher.
Related links:
