Norman Residents Question Late Tornado Warning

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- With a small tornado bearing down on Norman, some people near its path are wondering why Norman's sirens weren't activated until several minutes later.

The Summit Lakes addition was one area hit Friday night by what the National Weather Service is calling a weak tornado that extended along a two mile path in southeast Norman.

The Weather Service puts the tornado's touchdown around 10:30 p.m. Norman's tornado warning sirens didn't go off for another ten minutes.

Luckily damage was minor-- roofs damaged, fences knocked down, trees split open. Ashlie Mowdy said she saw the tornado and then heard the sirens several minutes later.

"It's kind of scary because we really didn't have a chance to seek shelter, I mean, get in the closet or anything. I mean it just happened so fast," Norman resident Ashlie Mowdy said.

It did happen fast. At 10:09 p.m. the National Weather Service put out a severe thunderstorm warning for Cleveland County. At 10:24 p.m. that was elevated to a tornado warning for southeast Norman. At 10:28 p.m. NEWS 9 meteorologist Michael Armstrong broke in with an announcement.

Still, Norman's emergency management protocols required visual confirmation of a tornado.

"We did not have a verified report of rotation from the ground or funnel from the ground until almost 10:36 p.m.," said Norman Emergency Management official David Grizzle.

Four more minutes went by before the sirens were finally activated at 10:40 p.m. Grizzle thinks the system worked well considering the suddenness of the storm.

"The problem that we had with this severe weather event was that the storm came, matured right on top of us," Grizzle said.

Garland Burkett had some damage at his house too. He's not made about the siren delay.

"I realize that's the kind of storm, you know, it can just drop out of the sky, you know. And nobody, the Norman Weather Service didn't anticipate that either," Norman resident Garland Burkett said.

Norman has 38 sirens, but only 32 are considered operational. Emergency management personnel say they will need $2 million to install enough sirens to cover all of Norman.