The City of Sioux Falls is updating its outdoor siren activation to include “destructive severe thunderstorm" warnings.
That includes a Wireless Emergency Alert being sent to cell phones in the affected areas.
The National Weather Service defines thunderstorms as “destructive” if they have 80 mile per hour winds or greater or baseball-sized hail.
Regan Smith is the Emergency Manager for the City of Sioux Falls. He said the real “change” is on the city’s side.
“There will be no real change for what the public should do. If you’re outdoors when this warning siren activates, seek shelter immediately, stay there until the threat has passed," Smith said. "These storms are rare but pose a significant danger and we want people to respond accordingly."
Some changes are happening on the county side as well.
Jason Gearman is with Minnehaha County Emergency Management. He said in addition to adding sirens for destructive thunderstorm warnings, Minnehaha County is changing monthly siren checks to Mondays.
“We do activate the sirens monthly. It used to be on Saturdays at 10 am. We are switching that, a lot of the rural fire departments who monitor those sirens, they’re out of town on the weekends," Gearman said. "So, we’re going to be switching that date to Mondays, the first Monday of the month at 7 p.m. which allows the fire department to keep closer track of if the sirens are working to make sure the sirens are working. We have had some instances in the past few years where sirens weren’t working for a month or so before we found out to get them fixed."
Additionally, both Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County will sound the sirens April 9 at 10:15 am for its annual community tornado drill. They encourage businesses and schools to participate and practice their sever weather plans.
