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Lack Of Tornado Sirens Means Morrow County Residents Must Depend On Phones, Weather Radios

Morrow County only has five tornado sirens to provide warnings for residents.

When you hear the eerie sound of a tornado siren, you know it's time to take cover.

Christine Caldwell says when severe weather approaches her Morrow County home, she hears nothing.

"The only way you can hear tornado sirens in this area is if you are outside and the wind is blowing just right,” said Christine Caldwell.

Caldwell says it's a little scary when the weather is bad.

"I would like to see more sirens,” said Caldwell “I'd like to see more ways to protect ourselves."

Joe Edwards, the Director of the Morrow County Emergency Management Agency, says there are five tornado sirens in the county. He adds that is not the only way people can be warned that a storm is coming.

"The other thing is we have CodeRED for the county,” said Morrow County EMA Director Joe Edwards. “CodeRED is automatically set off by a company out of Florida who monitors the National Weather Service for this area and that will come out, before it even makes TV."

Edwards says with CodeRED, critical community alerts are sent directly to your cell phone. He says that, and having a weather radio, are important ways to stay safe even if you can't hear a siren.

He says Morrow County is not getting additional sirens.

“We don't have the funding. This is one of the most rural counties in the state of Ohio - the population is only 34,000 people. There is no heavy industry to support that tax base, so we don't have those kind of budgets,” said Edwards.

Caldwell says she has signed up for CodeRED but a cell phone isn't always reliable. She hopes an additional siren will be considered.

"Yes, I feel that we need to have more,” said Caldwell.

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