CITY SHOULD REVIEW STORM-WARNING OPTIONS

Tornado season has begun with a vengeance. Dozens of deaths, mostly in the southern states, have resulted from killer twisters that have left behind hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage as well.

There is no way to predict every dangerous storm, but the National Weather Service has become more and more sophisticated in its storm warnings, thanks to technological advances. Services like TV's Weather Channel have given prominence to weather forecasting, and good efforts are being made to warn folks who are likely to be in the path of developing storms.

Amazing developments using radar allow meteorologists to detect developing storm systems that are likely to spawn tornados or other dangerous weather. Forecasting tornadoes still relies heavily on visual verification by storm spotters, but technology is much better at helping with those predictions.

Even with the best of warning systems, however, there are likely to be storm-related deaths. Why? For one thing, too many residents of Tornado Alley don't take the warnings seriously. Others don't ignore the warnings, they just don't hear them, either because they aren't watching TV or are inside their homes and can't hear storm sirens.

Still others are even less likely to get adequate warnings of severe storms because there is no storm-warning system. Cape Girardeau is in this category. There are no storm sirens. The reason that is usually given is "We tried that once." Indeed, the city spent a considerable sum of money several years ago for a siren system that did not perform up to expectations. It was dismantled.

There continues to be a demand for the city to do something. As more and more new residents move into town, particularly those coming from communities with storm-warning systems of some kind, there are frequent questions about the lack of a warning system here. City officials tend to brush aside these concerns. That does little to allay the worries of residents who are interested in a warning solution.

Most people think of warning sirens when they think of municipal warning systems. Indeed, many communities rely on strategically placed sirens that are effective. Other cities that have sirens experience less than satisfactory results.

Instead of taking the position that sirens don't work in Cape Girardeau, the city could take a look at other warning methods -- options that might not be terribly expensive to the city.

One option would be to encourage residents to purchase storm-warning radios. These special radios automatically sound an alarm when forecasters issue tornado watchs and warnings. With backup batteries, these radios are effective even when the power is off.

John Halter, emergency management coordinator in Chaffee, goes a step further in urging storm-warning radios for public places where large numbers of people meet on a regular basis. Businesses, industries, schools, hospitals and churches are just a few of the places that could benefit from warning radios. If nothing else, the city could coordinate such a program and provide education to the community about the radios and how to use them.

Another warning method used by many communites takes advantage of existing cable-TV systems. This method allows law enforcement agencies to override the cable signal and issue TV warnings regardless of the channel being watched. This system is only effective if the TV is on and the power hasn't been disrupted.

There may be even more solutions that, alone or in combination with other plans, could provide adequate warning of an approaching storm that has life-threatening potention. But unless the city is willing to take on such a program, it will never happen.