Tornado drill in Cape County rescheduled for Thursday

A fear of causing undue alarm was the reason for rescheduling Cape Girardeau County's participation in Tuesday's statewide tornado drill, according to a county official

"The sky was overcast and the National Weather Service was predicting high-wind gusts," said Richard Knaup, director of the Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management Agency. "With those conditions, we didn't want to give people the idea that a tornado was approaching by turning on the warning sirens. They might have thought it was the real thing."

The tornado drill, which had been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, will take place at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in Cape Girardeau County only.

Knaup said other parts of the state went through with the drill as planned.

"A lot of areas didn't have the weather we had," he said. "We think conditions will be better on Thursday."

The county is taking part in Severe Weather Awareness Week, an effort by the National Weather Service, the State Emergency Management Agency and local emergency-management offices to urge people to plan and prepare for severe weather. For 39 years, a statewide tornado drill has been conducted during awareness week.

Mark Hasheider, emergency-management director for the city of Cape Girardeau, hopes Thursday's drill will be taken seriously.

"We'd like for people to take the time to locate shelter in advance of a tornado warning," Hasheider said. "That's part of what the drill is about, to get people to stop and think about where they would go in the event of a real tornado."

Hasheider said Cape Girardeau has four outdoor warning sirens that will sound when a tornado warning has been issued.

"We're going to have five more with the help of casino revenue," he added. "We hope to have them installed within the next 120 days."

Jackson has eight outdoor warning sirens and there is one in Allenville, according to Knaup.

For more information, contact the Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management office at 204-0911.

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