DisastersLouisiana parish plans extreme weather alert system

Emergency officials in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana are considering installing warning sirens that would alert residents of dangerous weather.

Authorities are currently conducting feasibility studies to determine if installing the sirens is practical and a financial possibility.

“Right now, we are conducting a feasibility study,” said Tracy Hilburn, the director of the Ouachita Parish Office of Homeland Securityp and Emergency Preparedness.

The existing plan consists of installing sixty towers throughout the Parish, fourteen in Monroe City, six in West Monroe, and the rest would be placed throughout the parish. Each warning tower would be composed of a siren sitting atop a forty-foot pole that people can hear within a 2.2 mile radius.

“We need to find out what it’s going to take to cover the parish, and then we need to look at the means to fund the project. We were looking at it prior to the [April] storms hitting, but that sort of escalated it,” Hilburn said.

During the fierce storms that hit on 26 April and 27 April, more than 1,200 homes and at least 100 businesseswere damaged in the Parish. The storms brought at least seven inches of rain resulting in floods throughout the area that killed two people.

According to Hilburn the exact cost of the warning system is not yet known, but the feasibility study will help to provide authorities with a better numbers. Speaking before the Ouachita Parish Police Jury, Hilburn said he estimated that the project would cost roughly $2 million in addition to maintenance fees that have not yet been factored in.

The cost of the project and available funds will play a big part in determining if the parish will go ahead with the plan, said police jurors.

“We are very interested in pursuing this,” said West Monroe mayor Dave Norris. “I think we can do it. We are mostly interested in the tornado aspect of it, and of course violent thunderstorms.”

Norris added that the system has redundancies built in and would be able to survive harsh weather as the sirens have backup generators that would activate when the power goes out. Norris is a staunch supporter of the program and says that if the project is not feasible for the parish or the city of Monroe, he will push ahead in West Monroe.

Meanwhile Monroe mayor Jamie Mayo said that if funds were available, he would like to install the weather warning system as well.

“I think having a parishwide early alert system is a proactive approach to protecting our citizens,” Mayo said. “There is no question when it comes to the value of protecting our citizens. It is definitely worth a study, and then we can review the actual cost and determine the feasibility of it.”