Tornado sirens being installed, set to be active before summer

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Nearly a year after the city council’s approval tornado sirens are being installed across Lubbock.

The $700,000 outdoor warning system will be useful for residents without online warnings. There will be 45 sirens installed within the Lubbock city limits. The city reports testing will begin soon and the system will be operational before the summer.

“This is one of those tools and layers of notifying the public,” says Director of Emergency Management Joe Moudy. “We have LBK Alert, we have our weather radios, we have wireless emergency alerts, and this is the fourth component to them.”

Moudy says each siren will be located near playgrounds or areas where people would be outdoors.

Moudy says there is not a map available right now, but one will soon be added to the city’s emergency management website with more details.

“That will communicate testing and activation guidelines as well as show general locations of where the sirens are located. And then each week leading up to the test we will communicate that out to the public and on our social media channels,” Moudy said.

A tornado has not caused damage to Lubbock in many decades. The last tornado warning in Lubbock was in May 2021.

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