TERRY, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Hinds E.O.C. Director Jimmie Lewis tells us four sirens in Terry were activated during the EF-2 tornado that passed through Terry around 3:30 Wednesday afternoon. Along with one on Wynndale road, the activated sirens include one on Cunningham Street, one on Georgetown Circle, and one on Dry Grove Road and Tank Road.
Lewis tells us he got information the next day that the Tank Road siren may have been on pause when the storm hit. Lewis tells us the "comm fail" message that came through regarding the siren doesn't necessarily mean it didn't sound.
But we found out it didn't.
We asked Charles Dixon, who lives right across the street from the siren, if it sounded.
"No it did not," he says. "If it wasn't for you guys, we would have definitely been in the dark for sure. You showed the storm cell coming through, we knew it was coming."
Dixon showed us where the twister passed through the cemetery next to the siren, knocking down gravestones.
"We're happy to have (a siren)," he says. "This is the first one we've had in this community. But for it not to go off when we need it, very disappointing. We lost confidence in it and everything."
And Keith Partridge has a Terry mailing address, but lives in the county. He expected the siren at Terry Road and Spring Ridge Road to go off on Wednesday, but it didn't.
"According to what was on the weather on TV, we were in the warning cone. They had the track directly for us," he says.
The damage occurred about five miles away from his house.
Lewis tells us the Terry/Spring Ridge siren was not activated because, according to him, it wasn't in the path of the tornado. The new sirens can be controlled individually, so the activated sirens were hand-picked.
But by whom? 3 On Your Side received word Lewis was not at the Emergency Operations Center when the storm came. He wouldn't confirm or deny, only telling us he was in "Hinds County".
District 5 Supervisor George Smith, President of the Board of Supervisors, says if Lewis wasn't at the helm, it doesn't bother him, because siren duty is the duty of Lewis' assistant.
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