Grant accepted for 18 new Cape Girardeau County sirens

Protection from severe weather in the form of warning sirens appears to be on its way to 18 small communities in Cape Girardeau County.

The towns and villages of Burfordville, Daisy, Delta, Dutchtown, Egypt Mills, Friedheim, Fruitland, Gordonville, Millersville, New Wells, Oak Ridge, Old Appleton, Oriole, Pocahontas, Randles, Shawneetown, Tilsit and Whitewater will receive warning sirens for the first time during the next 18 months as long as county commissioners can find a way to provide a 25 percent match to a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

Commissioners last week approved accepting the grant, which will give the county $293,623 toward the installation of the sirens. The commission now is looking for a way to fund the remaining $97,875 needed to pay for the project.

Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper on Thursday said the commission plans to approach the communities that will receive the sirens to ask local governments to help meet the match, along with businesses, and utility companies and cooperatives. Another idea to obtain the needed funds is to ask the County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund board for a contribution. The fund is supplied with money from court fees.

The county began to seek added protection from sirens for storms and other emergencies after an EF2 tornado damaged areas in and around Oak Ridge in February 2012. That tornado's 32-mile path stretched from Oak Ridge to Giant City State Park in extreme southeast Jackson County, Ill. An 89-year-old man was injured when the roof was torn from his home, and numerous homes and buildings, along with the Oak Ridge School District campus, were damaged.

Koeper said he learned from Gov. Jay Nixon that grant funding for better emergency warning systems was available from FEMA through the state's emergency management agency during the governor's visit the day following the tornado.

"We decided to go for that right away," Koeper said.

Commissioners applied for a grant, but about a year passed before the agency returned a decision. Koeper said he believed it unlikely that the grant would come through.

The agreement between the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and the county gives an anticipated completion date as October 2014, although Koeper said he is hopeful the sirens can be installed this year. Cape Girardeau County, according to records from the National Weather Service, yearly experiences one to four severe weather events that contain confirmed tornadoes.

The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department will activate the sirens based on National Weather Service warnings and other emergency declarations.

The addition of the sirens would bring the number in the county, when combined with sirens in Allenville, Cape Girardeau and Jackson, to 37. Cape Girardeau has four sirens and six more on the way, which are to be funded with revenue from the operation of Isle Casino Cape Girardeau.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

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