May 11, 2009 8:59 pm US/Central
Bad Equipment To Blame For Hugo False Tornado Siren
HUGO, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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A year ago this month a tornado with wind gusts as strong as 165 miles per hour ripped through Hugo. It killed a little boy and badly hurt his sister and seven other people. (File)
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A bad piece of equipment is at least partly to blame for tornado sirens that mistakenly sounded in the middle of the night in Hugo, Minn. last week.
According to Washington County Sheriff's Office, one of those sirens blared for more than a half an hour at 1 a.m. on May 5.
A year ago this month a tornado with wind gusts as strong as 165 miles per hour ripped through Hugo. It killed a little boy and badly hurt his sister and seven other people.
More than three dozen homes needed to be re-built from the ground up and more than 300 families had some damage to their homes.
Washington County said the siren that went off for more than 30 minutes had a bad control panel and it's being replaced.
However, investigators still don't know what set the sirens off. The sheriff's office thinks radio waves from another county might be to blame.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office encourages residents to monitor severe weather by either picking up a NOAA weather radio or by listening to their local news and radio stations.
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