Lowndes County Administrator Ralph Billingsly came to Friday”s Board of Supervisors meeting armed with maps and bad news: According to his estimates, the county needs 20 new tornado sirens, but funds will not be available from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency as supervisors had previously hoped.
It would cost between $325,000 and $350,000 to install sirens in the county”s most heavily populated, under-covered areas.
Billingsly said it could be up to a year before MEMA releases funds to Lowndes, and that”s only if leftover money is available from the “Safe Place to Go” program, which is currently providing assistance to 29 counties directly affected by the tornado outbreak of April 15-28. The program allows up to a 75 percent reimbursement for the construction of family and community safe rooms as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency”s Hazard Mitigation Grant administered by MEMA.
Billingsly suggested installing five sirens at a time, as money is available, but District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks and District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith balked at the idea, saying the weather warning systems are a public safety issue and asking how the choice would be made of who to protect.
“I think we should bite the bullet and go ahead and get it done, whether it”s $350,000 or $500,000,” Brooks said. “We”re talking about allocating money to protect life and property. I don”t know how you can put a dollar on that.”
Smith pointed out that following the 2008 tornado in Caledonia, the board discussed the need for more sirens but nothing was done.
District 1 Supervisor and Board President Harry Sanders asked Billingsly to run the numbers and see if the county can afford to install 10 sirens this year and 10 next year. If the board decides to take that route, the sirens will be budgeted into the next fiscal year, which begins in September.
The supervisors are also considering placing storm shelters at each of the five road department satellite barns and one at the central maintenance office to protect the county”s 60 road workers during inclement weather.
New tornado sirens are proposed for the following areas:
- District 1: Stevens Road, Wolfe Road, Buck Egger Road, Anderson Grove, Border Springs, Flint Hill, Caldwell Road, Jack Wiggins and Gurlie Malone;
- District 2: Lakeview, Jolly Ridge, North Ridge, Wilcutt Block, Oakdale Park, Sherwood, Columbus Middle School, Sand Road and Hickory Lane;
- District 3: Volunteer Fire Department Station No. 4, the Y, Old Yorkville Road, Mt. Vernon Road, New Hope Road and Gardner Drive;
- District 4: The National Guard Armory on Highway 69, George Bridges Road and Crawford;
- District 5: Motley Road, Airport Road, Golden Horn Road, Steger Road, Airport Fire Department, Burkhalter, West Lowndes Elementary School and Elm Lake.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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