Severe weather notification guidelines updated in Lee’s Summit

Lee’s Summit will update its severe weather notification system after officials failed to activate an outdoor warning siren during Monday’s tornado.

Jim Eden, assistant fire chief, said the department received numerous complaints from the public regarding the decision not to sound the outdoor warning sirens during an EF1 tornado that carried wind speeds up to 108 mph.

The twister touched down about 8 p.m. near Chipman Road and Olive Street.

City officials said Tuesday that the decision not to activate the sirens was made when the National Weather Service warned only of a tornado over Grandview.

The decision, Eden said, was made based on guidelines that were in place at the time of the tornado.

On Wednesday, those guidelines were updated.

“In the future, when there is a tornado warning issued by the National Weather Service for any area of southern Jackson or northern Cass county, all notification systems, including outdoor storm warning sirens, shall be activated,” Eden said.

The city, Eden said, will continue to use current methods of deploying storm spotters and real-time radar monitoring.

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 5:57 PM with the headline "Severe weather notification guidelines updated in Lee’s Summit."