As the St. Louis area received alerts of tornado warnings over the weekend, some people in the city noticed something was missing: the sound of tornado sirens.
KMOX received several complaints from listeners that sirens didn’t go off in at least two neighborhoods, Bevo and St. Louis Hills. The complaints said that the sirens have also not sounded during the monthly tests.
City Emergency Management Commissioner Sarah Russell told KMOX that failures are to be expected with the current siren system.
“The system is very old. There are issues with the system. We try to keep track of those as best we can but it’s an old siren system,” Russell said. “It is over 22 years old, and the manufacturer says the typical lifespan is 15 years.”
She added that there is no budget to make annual repairs on the sirens, and that parts are difficult to find and there is no regular maintenance. She said that the system’s batteries are replaced every three years, and one-third of the sirens are done each year.
Knowing this, she said, the department has introduced NOTIFY STL, which sends out alerts via cell phone, landline and email.
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