![]() ![]() An EF-3 tornado, with 136-165 mph winds plowed through Cole County and Jefferson City. ![]() The joint Cole County-Jefferson City siren project was completed in 2012.Įerily, on May 22 this year, the eighth anniversary of the Joplin tornado, Mother Nature tested the new emergency sirens. The project was funded by capital improvement sales taxes. ![]() The new system with 29 sirens cost about $750,000 with each siren averaging between $30,000 and $35,000. They were “old-style World War II civil defense sirens.” Maintenance costs were “unbelievable” and parts for repair were no longer available. The county and city evaluated their emergency sirens and agreed to replace them.Īccording to Bill Farr, Cole County’s emergency management director, the warning sirens within Jefferson City limits needed to be upgraded and replaced. The catastrophic event, which brought down nearly 7,000 homes, a hospital and other public buildings, prompted a wave of initiatives throughout the state to reduce risks to lives and damage to property in the path of another disaster. In 2011 a deadly EF-5 tornado-winds more than 200 mph, top of the Enhanced Fujita Damage Scale-took 161 lives in Joplin, MO. – Thanks to new sirens blaring a warning message about the approaching tornado this past May, no lives were lost in Missouri’s Cole County and Jefferson City, the state capital. ![]()
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