Tornado siren still down a month after News 4 story
MUSTANG, Okla. (KFOR) — May is a big month in Oklahoma for severe weather, and many Oklahomans rely on tornado sirens to give a warning. One neighborhood has been left in silence after the nearest tornado siren was damaged.
News 4 did a story in April about the siren. Now that it's been a month, more neighbors are coming forward and want to know why it hasn't been fixed.
"I want this siren back up so we can hear it! It's very critical out here. We have a lot of storms come through here," said Larry Dellinger, a concerned neighbor.
The tornado siren near their homes no longer makes a sound. It's on Southwest 104th, near Czech Hall Road in Mustang, but it's within Oklahoma City limits.
Mike Reddin talked to News 4 in April and said he was having a hard time getting in touch with the city to get answers.
"Call channel 4; they'll get on top of it, and we called you guys," said Mike Reddin, a concerned neighbor.
At the time, the city shared a statement through a text message saying a driver hit the pole, and the city was working on getting a quote to replace everything.
A month later, neighbors are still waiting.
"The other storm siren that I'm aware of is a mile straight south, and we cannot hear that," said Dellinger.
Larry Dellinger has called the city help line multiple times to try and get an update.
"They have no timeline, they can't tell me anything about why it's not fixed or when it's gonna be fixed," said Dellinger.
The lack of warning is something he said is concerning if the next storm rolls through.
"This particular siren has woken up myself and my wife up in the middle of the night so we feel like it's very critical," said Dellinger.
News 4 reached out to the city again to get an update, and we received the following statement below.
We share our resident’s concerns about the downed tornado siren. A new pole has been ordered by our contractor , but unfortunately they can take up to 3 to 4 months to produce. Each pole has to be custom made out of spun concrete. We understand the urgency and are trying to get it replaced as quickly as we can.
Sirens should be only one of three ways residence have to get information about the weather. Other options include radio, television, online news, sources, and a smart phone app.
Spokesperson for the City of Oklahoma City