But even so, Chuck Magaha, Leavenworth County director of emergency preparedness, warns that the 125-decibel sirens, designed to be heard from two miles away, may not always reach everyone.

“Outdoor warning sirens were designed to be heard outdoors,” Magaha said. “With the new construction of homes that may have surround-sound TVs, Nintendos and the construction of the homes in general it’s difficult to hear the sirens from inside homes.”

After the May 11 Tonganoxie tornado, Magaha heard complaints from some residents who said they did not hear the warning sirens. He said this was probably because the residents were in their houses.

Because the sirens may be not audible from inside every house, Magaha said he would like to see every home have a weather radio.

The older weather radios tune into the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, which covers 44 counties.

“With that many counties being covered, it can become annoying to listen to,” Magaha said.

So he suggests the new tone alert SAME weather radios. The SAME stands for “specific area messaging messaging encoder,” and means that the radios can easily be programmed by the purchaser to cover specific areas. For instance, a radio could be programmed to pick up weather reports for just Leavenworth County, or for maybe Leaven-worth and Jefferson counties whatever the person wants to hear.

These radios sell for about $69, Magaha said.

“We’re working with a corporate sponsor to get these down to $41,” Magaha said. “Our goal in northeast Kansas is to get them in 55 percent of the homes by next year.”

The radios sound alerts during severe weather, and they give constant weather reports.

Meanwhile, Magaha said he is budgeting for five additional sirens to be installed: north of Reno on U.S. Highway 24-40, at 178th Street and State Avenue, at County Road 8 and County Road 30 west of Jarbalo, southeast of Lansing in the Kansas Highway 5 area, and just west of the Leavenworth city limits.

But Magaha reminds residents that sirens are mechanical devices and that when the power is off they don’t operate. And he noted that no all-clear siren is sounded.

“If the siren goes off again, that means that there’s either severe weather still in the area or that more severe weather is coming in,” Magaha said.

Magaha cautioned that just because the sirens go off doesn’t mean there’s necessarily a storm. The sirens are tested regularly.

“The sirens can be sounded for a hazardous material incident,” Magaha said, “And utilized if there would be an attack from a foreign nation. Any time we need to alert the public, we will use them.”

Magaha noted that in Lansing it is common to sound the sirens when a prisoner escapes from the Lansing Correctional Facility.

“If we had a massive prison break, we would set the sirens off countywide,” Magaha said.