City’s response to the storm is exemplary

Try  convincing Miranda McFarland tornado sirens should only be sounded when a tornado has been spotted.

You’ll have chances better persuading a tree, specifically, the one that crashed through her kitchen during Thursday’s storms.

Miranda and her family, which includes an 8-month-old son, had retreated to their homes basement when the sirens sounded.

About five minutes later, the house shook as a giant tree landed squarely on the kitchen and into the baby’s nursery.

There’s a justifiable belief that sounding tornado sirens when there isn’t a tornado will desensitize the public, and when an actual tornado is eminent, the warning will be ignored.

Ask Miranda how smart it would be to ignore that warning.

Red Oak Fire Chief Rick Askey essentially decides when to sound the sirens, and did so earlier than later Thursday night. With the storm approaching, Askey fully recognized its potential impact and damage capabilities, and as a result, McFarland and her family were safe and secure when the tree took out half their home.

Fortunately, the brunt of the storm missed Red Oak, as the massive size hail that plagued Villisca, Silver City, Mineola, and elsewhere just missed the town by a couple miles. Had it not, the damage would have been much, much more severe, and the potential for injuries increased exponentially.

However, those injuries would have been minimized thanks to the sounding of the tornado sirens in the absence of a tornado.

Red Oak and Montgomery County are fortunate to be protected and served by individuals as qualified as Askey, whose hard work, training and education paid immeasurable dividends Thursday night.

While I’m handing out compliments today, I would be remiss to stop with Askey.

The entire Red Oak fire and police departments, in conjunction with the City utility crews did a fabulous job after the storm.

Their response was immediate and effective in preventing further damage and injuries caused by downed limbs and power lines.

Streets were quickly and efficiently cleared, along with the help of Scott Wilson and three crews from the Green Tree Company.

I’m never one to shirk from complaining or pointing out problems, but today, our emergency services and City employees truly deserve a debt of gratitude from all of us for doing a great job in responding to a difficult situation.

I for one am extremely grateful for their efforts, and their sacrifice.

Now, if we could only get the City to provide curbside pickup for downed limbs for those who don’t own a pickup and as such, can’t haul them away to a brush site.

Maybe next time.

Gregory Orear is the general manager/editor of the Red Oak Express and can be reached at publisher@redoakexpress.com.