SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — The 8th most important story in 2019 was the silent sirens during the Sioux Falls tornadoes.
The cities siren system – 77 horns strong – is designed to blare out warnings before a tornado arrives.
But when the three tornadoes struck on that one day back in September, many of the sirens failed to wail.
“Quite honestly, what happened with the system was we just had a human error issue. Only some of our sirens were activated,” explained Mayor Paul TenHaken at a news conference a day after the trio of tornadoes touched down.
Apparently, someone fired off the sirens alright, but only for parts of the city. TenHaken said it was a breach of protocol that was being fixed. He emphasized that the city’s siren system was not broken.



