While communities in the Texas Panhandle work to improve severe weather warning systems and equipment, experts say the best plan is your own.
The Amarillo Globe reports:
- Lubbock is developing a system for tornado warnings.
- Amarillo is working at upgrading and expanding sirens.
- Hereford upgraded its control system and sirens five years ago.
- Dumas is upgrading sirens with battery back up in the incidence of power loss.
- Canyon has seven sirens inside city limits, tested once a month.
Timing, capacity, availability, and expense make community shelters difficult.
Kevin Starbuck is the Emergency Manager for Amarillo, Potter, and Randall counties. He says it is never a good idea to take shelter under an overpass. “If a tornado passes over, the overpass acts as a vortex and increases the wind speed and debris in the area,” said Starbuck.
