After storms rolled through East Tennessee overnight, several viewers told 10news that they heard the tornado sirens going off in Madisonville Saturday night and are curious about how their warning system works.
Part of Monroe County was issued a tornado warning.
"Each municipality has sirens," explained April White with Monroe County E-911. White says they will sound if the National Weather Service issues a warning. Along with the 911 agency, each city's fire chief, police chief and mayor have the code to set the alarms off.
Normally, a conversation happens between those local leaders before a decision is made.
Officials chose to sound alarms in Madisonville as a precaution. They also kept residents updated through their Facebook page.
White said residents had reached out to her asking about text alerts. When the National Weather Service sends out their own text alerts, the 911 agency does not. Monroe County does have a reverse 911 text notification system they use.
She says the county is working towards getting the I-PAWS system. It's a text alert program called Integrated Public Alert & Warning System. This would allow anyone in the area to receive a warning message even if they weren't signed up to. A text is sent through your phone's carrier. It would help protect travelers passing through the area and reach more people to save lives in dangerous situations.
However, the I-PAWS system is only used during extreme circumstances such as tsunami, hurricane, typhoon, dust storm, tornado and flash flood warnings.
Sirens were installed after tornados hit the area in 2012. The outbreak included an E-F two tornado in Tellico Plains that damaged dozens of homes and businesses.
The National Weather Service recorded 70 confirmed tornadoes between March second and March third across the South that year that killed 41 people. No one died in Tennessee.
Sunday morning, crews with the Monroe County EMA were surveying the Coker Creek area on reports of downed trees.