Tornado Sirens
By carpenter5
@carpenter5 (6782)
United States
April 3, 2009 9:17am CST
We here in the small town of Bryant, Arkansas are located right along Interstate 30. In central Arkansas, it's known as Tornado Alley. It's the natural path that many storms take as them come through going southwest to northeast through our state.
So, the town/communities naturally have tornado sirens. Yesterday, Hubby and I were at the Department of Motor Vehicles, getting my handicapped tags renewed when the sirens began to go off. I had just commented to Mike after looking out the window of the DMV that it was hailing.
Well, Kristen was at home and in bed sick. I had tried to call her a few minutes before as I watched the storm come in and the sky began to turn dark. When the sirens began to go off, I tried again and again, to no avail. Her cell phone was going straight to voice mail.
I finally had to call the manager of our apartment building to ask if maintence would go down and see if they could wake her up and get her to take the dog and go downstairs to our neighbors house. I didn't want them on the 2nd floor. They were happy to check on her.
It is official...my daughter can sleep through anything. Including loud tornado sirens!
4 people like this
8 responses
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
3 Apr 09
Sounds like one of my brothers. I swear he can sleep through anything. He actually rigged his alarm clock through the speakers on his stereo to wake himself up in the morning. You could go deaf in his room when it was going off and he would be sound asleep still.
4 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
3 Apr 09
Wow! Are he and Kristen related? My youngest daughter on the other hand is completely opposite. She is a very light sleeper. It's really ironic that two sisters who are so much alike in many ways are different in this way isn't it? So what about you...do you wake up easily, or are you a hard sleeper as well?
3 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Nov 09
I am too. My son works nights at UPS. He comes in somewhere between 3:30 and 4:30 in the morning. No matter how quiet he is, I always wake up. I will usually get up and make sure that he had a good night at work and chat for a minute. He can never go straight to sleep when he gets home. It's our quiet time and something that I enjoy!
@MysticTomatoes (1053)
• United States
3 Apr 09
My husband grew up in Texas and moved to California years ago. He have been through a few tornadoes in his time. We had one hit not too far away from where his parents live when I was still pregnant with our daughter. My only concern was not being able to pee because the water was sucked out of the toilets by the tornado. Never stand between a pregnant lady and the bathroom!
He's got some really neat and scary stories that he can tell due to all the weather he's seen. I know at one point in time, he wanted to be a storm chaser. But I think his overly cautious mother talked him out of that. I think it'd be neat to chase tornadoes.
We have our fair share of earthquakes in California. I'm not used to the severe storms and the tornado chances. My husband said they used to sleep through the sirens too. It was only if one was actually headed their way would they go and hide. Kinda like crying wolf when there wasn't a wolf. You get bored with it all when nothing happens.
I'm hoping that everyone in your family was okay though.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
4 Apr 09
The sirens today and the warnings are much more pinpointed to specific areas. Not as many crying wolf experiences. I have lived in California, and felt little quakes. Give me tornadoes over earthquakes, or hurricanes for that matter, any time.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
4 Apr 09
The sirens today and the warnings are much more pinpointed to specific areas. Not as many crying wolf experiences. I have lived in California, and felt little quakes. Give me tornadoes over earthquakes, or hurricanes for that matter, any time.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
4 Apr 09
The sirens today and the warnings are much more pinpointed to specific areas. Not as many crying wolf experiences. I have lived in California, and felt little quakes. Give me tornadoes over earthquakes, or hurricanes for that matter, any time.
3 people like this
@JoyfulOne (6231)
• United States
3 Apr 09
That's sure scary! Unfortunately, unless it's summer and the windows are open I can't really hear our town's siren. Our tornado siren is about 3/4 mile away in a valley. I know I slept through the test the other day, and I thought that's kind of dangerous not being able to hear it well, and sleeping through it on top of it all. I imagine you get a lot more tornados down in Ark. than we do here in Ohio. We only get warnings a few times a year, and I remember this one tornado really well that came through. I always go to the basement, and am thankful that the house has one! Glad to hear the managers took care of your daughter like that, it's always good to know there's still good people who care for the safety of others! Wishing you a tornado free spring!!
3 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
3 Apr 09
It turned out the worst of the storm was about 10 miles east of us, yet still in the same county, so the sirens were going off. The storm never came out of the clouds. The weather service never even issued a warning, the sirens were turned on because a deputy saw the clouds trying to form. We live less than a mile from the junior high school, so the pole with the closest siren is just over the hill.
2 people like this
when i was a teenegar,i was also like that.no amount of banging on doors would waken me up.but now i do sleep light and i tend to wake up at the slightest noise.@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
4 Apr 09
I think it has something to do with the fact that when we're teenagers, we go and go and go until we're just exhausted and can't go anymore and then we crash.
I slept like that when I was a teenager too. I could sleep until 2 o'clock in the afternoon if my parents would let me!
1 person likes this
@mzz663 (2772)
• United States
4 Apr 09
Oh wow! at the point where my kids' phones go straight to voicemail I'd start freaking out, especially when you have tornado warning! (we have tornado's in Ohio but not as many as you have in "tornado alley"
Of course....I freak out a little when the kids call me and I try calling back and they either don't answer or I get the voicemail.
I think you're really lucky you have someone around that cares enough to take their time to go check on her/wake her up!
......I've been known to sleep through everything but someone pounding on the door/window loudly.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Apr 09
I knew if someone started knocking on the door that the dog would wake up and have a fit. Which is exactly what happened. Baby loves David (Our Maintence man) and as soon as he came up the stairs and she heard him on the landing, Kristen said she started to run circles and bark, which woke her up.
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
13 Apr 09
No, it certainly didn't. The storm was actually way west of us, even though it was in the same county, our side of the county wasn't ever in any danger. We've had two more scares in the last week. But nothing came out of it here. Our friends in Southwest Arkansas (Mena) weren't so lucky.
@kawalnarang (1095)
• Trinidad And Tobago
3 Apr 09
We do have storms and floods,, last one was sept last year,, it's so much of cleaning up,, I am glad ur child can sleep through all that noise,,She has work cut out for her when she grows up ,,hahah,, and I am glad there are people who can help in such circumstances,, Thank God too,
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
3 Apr 09
She knows all about work. THis is my 19 year old that is in nursing school. She had come home from school and gone to bed because she wasn't feeling well. I wish I could say that her fever was what caused her to sleep through the noise, but unfortunately, this isn't the case. The only time she does wake up is when either her niece or nephew are here.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
4 Apr 09
I have had it happen that I have been away from home and kids when the sirens went off and that was scary. I am glad that you were able to get someone to check on her. Kristen is lucky to have you as a mom.
2 people like this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
4 Apr 09
You are so sweet! She was laughing when I got home. She said Mom, I didn't even know it was storming. When I went to sleep the sun was out! Yes, the storm had come up pretty quickly as they do this time of year. I just can't get over this wacky weather. Tonight it's in the low 40's. This afternoon it was almost 80 and people wonder why we're sick!
1 person likes this
@JABeau59 (446)
• United States
5 Apr 09
Yeah, I am in Kensett, AR and out sirens go off a bit too. My husband can sleep right through it if it goes off at night. I wake him up and he looks at me with a blank stare. I know that even if he is looking straight at me, he is not awake. I just say get in the storm shelter NOW. He moves and I follow with shoes and stuff. I don't know how anyone could sleep though a siren though. LOL
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
5 Apr 09
I don't understand either! I am such a light sleeper that I hear the firetrucks when they leave the station that is about a mile behind our house.
So where is Kensett? I've heard of it, but not sure which part of Arkansas you're in. Nice to see another Arkansan on here!
1 person likes this
@carpenter5 (6782)
• United States
6 Nov 09
That's cool. We come through there all the time. My youngest daughter is in school at Williams Baptist in Walnut Ridge. Alot of times, we will meet her in Searcy on Saturday's and go to lunch and shopping. It's about half way from the school to our house! We love your Colton's and definately love Rib Crib. We have both in Benton, but your Rib Crib is better than ours!
