Siren silence questioned

After the barrage of area storms last Friday, some in Whitehouse were questioning why the city's new storm alert system did not go off.

According to City Manager Ronny Fite, the storm spotters that were activated did not see the rotation necessary to call for the citywide alarm.

"I was out monitoring the cell that reportedly had the tornado approaching the City of Whitehouse. This cell consisted of wind and rain, with no tornado, hail or rotation that is consistent with a tornado," said Fite. "The cell that actually had the rotation went more to the north of Whitehouse near Tyler traveling east across Chapel Hill towards Arp."

Fite said the activation of storm spotters is protocal whenever Smith County issues a tornado warning or severe weather alert. Storm spotters are volunteer fire department members. Fite, a member of the VFD, said the city police were monitoring the situation as well.

"Staff has been told in the event of uncertainty to set them off anyway," he said. "On the other hand, we do not want to set them off every time a cell comes through, making folks complacent or start taking a 'cry wolf' attitude when we do activate them."