Many Joplin residents ignored tornado warning sirens
Perhaps as a result of a considerable number of false alarms in past years, many Joplin residents were either slow to react or completely ignored tornado warning sirens issued prior to the May 22 twister touching down, a new report reveals.
According to to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the slow reaction time was due in large part to locals wanting to see if there would be other advisories, such as television and radio reports.
"The majority of surveyed Joplin residents did not immediately go to shelter upon hearing the initial warning," the report stated. "[Many residents] did not take protective action until processing additional credible confirmation of the threat and its magnitude from a non-routine, extraordinary risk trigger."
In an interview with The Associated Press, Richard Wagenmaker, a National Weather Service meteorologist who contributed to the report, said it wasn't immediately clear how many people may have lost their lives because they didn't react more quickly.
The twister is believed to be one of Missouri's worst, leaving 162 people dead while thousands of others filed homeowners insurance claims.
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