Tsunami Sirens in Hawaii

[carexpertandy]

A couple of good recordings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG_9cQCEsf0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXY63n4xemU

Yeah, I already posted those links in the Sirens in Hawaii sound for the real deal... topic in the Audio/Video Forum.

[Charlie Davidson]

Fox News just showed a clip of a Thunderbolt rotating in the dark, and it looked like there were bird feathers coming out of it.

I seen that, but on MSNBC...and they keep showing it non-stop in the background of people talking...kind of annoying.

Like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHp9z4WkUhw

[SirenMaster2000]

From what I've seen from the text on The Weather Channel, they dodged a bullet so to speak. 214 dead and expected to rise.

[bradhig]

I saw that one on NBC news.

[almdoc]

That YouTube link JasonC posted is awsome !!!!! It gives me goose bumps when those sirens kick up in the dark.

[reception73]

Posted on: Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sirens' call was heard almost everywhere

By Greg Wiles
Advertiser Staff Writer

The blaring sirens that form the front line of Hawai'i's tsunami warning system worked well for the most part yesterday, though there were some reports of spotty coverage and malfunctioning units.

Callers to The Advertiser and to radio station KSSK reported outages or faint sirens in at least 10 areas on O'ahu, with other complaints coming in to Civil Defense officials on Maui and the Big Island.

Officials acknowledged that some sirens failed during the warnings that began at 6 a.m. and continued at intervals as the tsunami approached. New cell phone text warning systems won praise on Kaua'i and Hawai'i County.

"By early morning most folks on the island knew there was a situation going on," said John Cummings, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management. "People heeded our warnings and they left the shoreline."

Civil Defense officials in other counties echoed those sentiments, noting that residents reacted appropriately by taking steps to protect themselves.

The familiar sirens, which are tested at the start of each month, alerted people to tune in to broadcast information from the Emergency Alert System about the tsunami.

The Civil Air Patrol helped get the message out to remote parts of the state, including Kalaupapa and Ni'ihau.

"People took it seriously," said Maui County spokeswoman Mahina Martin. "I just think the public did a great job."

She said Maui County received fewer than a dozen phone calls about malfunctioning sirens but that Civil Defense officials reported there were no problems on their end.

On the Big Island, a county spokesman said four or five of the island's 72 warning units didn't work.

Cummings said O'ahu officials determined there were seven nonworking sirens out of the 176 that dot the island, including on military installations. He said that figure is consistent with the outages that are discovered during the monthly testing.

He said one of the problem units in Royal Kunia had been scheduled for replacement and that city crews began repairs yesterday. He said some sirens can sound faint if condominiums or trees are blocking their sound, or if the wind is blowing.

"The reality is we'd like to get more sirens in place because there are areas where there are gaps," he said.
Texting joins in

The sirens cost $86,000 each and are paid for and installed by state Civil Defense before being turned over to the counties for operation. The sirens have an effective range of 2,800 to 6,800 feet, according to Honolulu Department of Emergency Management information.

The system, however, may be finding competition in new alert systems that send cell phone text messages and recorded message calls to home phones.

On Kaua'i, one such system had its first real-life test, activated to send information to 22,000 phones.

The message was sent out at 5:30 a.m., alerting people to the tsunami and advising folks in low-lying areas to evacuate. Kaua'i County spokeswoman Mary Dau-bert said the system worked well, and that the state is encouraging more people to sign up for the system's civil defense alerts through the county's Web site.

A similar system was employed on the Big Island, with about 7,000 people receiving text messages on cell phones, beginning at 9:30 p.m. Friday, telling them that a tsunami advisory had been issued. At 1:30 a.m. yesterday another message told them the advisory had been upgraded to a warning.

"That works well for us," said Hunter Bishop, Hawai'i County spokesman. Along with other alerts, "people responded to the warnings very, very well."

Martin said Maui County is interested in the systems.

And on O'ahu a similar system is in the works. Cummings said the city has been working with a Mainland company on implementation of a free system and that it could be in place in a matter of weeks.