A NOAA weather radio is programmed, April 14, 2016, at Fleet Farm in Howard. PC: Fox 11 Online
SEYMOUR, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — While snow is in the forecast, one community has severe thunderstorms and tornadoes on its mind.
Back in 2022, an EF-1 tornado, with about a nine mile path, damaged trees, buildings, and power lines from just outside Black Creek to east of Seymour.
“There were people around here that were without power for a week or so, some roads were inaccessible just because of power lines. So, people still talk about the tornado around here,” said Stephen Sielaff of Oneida.
Two years before that storm, the Seymour tornado siren and eight others in Outagamie county were dismantled.
It was back in 2020 when the decision was made in Outagamie County to turn ownership and maintenance of the sirens over to individual municipalities, the county maintains the activation equipment and sets the sirens off.
“Maybe those municipalities where the sirens came down some of them still might expect to want to hear that but they’re just not going to. And the intent of sirens are really for outdoor warning. For indoor, inside your house, inside your business you really should have another method for notifications for severe weather,” said Paula Van De Leygraaf, the Outagamie County Emergency Management Director.
Seymour is one of 15 municipalities in Outagamie County that doesn’t have a tornado siren. The city administrator is not only making information about severe weather preparation available at city hall, but he’s also encouraging people to have a NOAA weather radio on hand, download local weather apps, and sign up for the county’s mass notification AtHoc alert system.
The AtHoc system will also notify registrants about emergency evacuation notices, public safety/life safety notifications, and hazardous chemical emergencies that are happening nearby.
Van De Leygraaf added, “I do still believe the weather apps are much quicker because AtHoc is limited to the number of phone lines and things like that that we have coming out of the county, so you’ll still get the notification it just might not be as quick as some of those other methods.”
Good information for people like Stephan Sielaff who relied on looking outside for severe weather more than technology. He said, “I’m in to being prepared. I have portable generator, transfer switch in the house so I can power up what I need to. But as for communication, I’m discovering how woefully unprepared I am for that.”
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