BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Officials have confirmed that most of Tuesday morning’s damage was caused by tornadoes.
Although no lives we lost many residents have asked why tornado sirens are not being utilized in Bay County.
In February of 2021 Panama City Beach Mayor Mark Sheldon suggested installing the devices throughout the Panama City Beach area. The mayor said he wanted a warning that did not come from phones to be available. The suggestion came about after an EF-0 tornado touched down in the city earlier that month.
No tornado sirens were installed, and the conversation was put to rest.
During Thursday night’s council meeting News Channel 7 asked city leaders if they planned on implementing the tornado sirens.
“Well, there were some things that were brought up about their total effectiveness,” said Panama City Beach Council Member Michael Jarman. “A lot of people have a misconception about tornado warning sirens. Most of the time if you’re in your house you’re not going to hear it. In a storm like that not many people are going to be outside, so it just seems like what we have with Alert Bay is a fantastic instrument to use and I encourage everyone to sign up.”
News Channel 7 reporters also reached out to county leaders to see if they were considering the addition. Bay County Chief of Communications Valerie Sale provided us with the following statement:
“Bay County uses the AlertBay emergency notification system to alert the public to severe weather and many other emergency or urgent situations beyond the scope of bad weather. This system is very effective and is funded by the state of Florida at a great savings to Bay County taxpayers. We also encourage residents to ensure that they have a working weather radio for use during bad weather and also to pay attention to their local meteorologists and news stations for the latest forecasts.”
to sign up for the emergency notification system click here.
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