DIGGINS, Mo. – A rural community in the Ozarks is now more prepared for severe weather.
While most people are used to hearing a siren go off outside when severe weather is on the way, people in the village of Diggins have never had that.
Thanks to the help of a donation, a storm siren has now been installed.
Webster County Emergency Management Director, Russ Douglas, said he saw getting a siren for Diggins as a priority.
He checked in on how much one would cost.
“Around $20,000,” said Douglas. “I’m like, man, we can’t afford that.
Douglas said he wasn’t sure what to do. That is until he visited with Cruz Newberry from Table Rock Alerting Systems.
Newberry saw the need and ended up donating the siren.
“I had just removed this siren from Urbana, they had purchased a brand-new siren to cover their entire community and run on their backup generator,” said Newberry. “We took it down. I did a little bit of cleaning up on it. I had to do some repairs. We put all new controls in it and updated everything so it’s reliable. Webster Electric donated the pole and the equipment to set it.”
Newberry said it’s his goal to give back to the communities he serves.
Knowing, he said, a storm siren can help save lives.
“In the worst-case scenario with the power out, cell phone towers down, everything nonfunctioning, the siren will still work.”
Community members said they are thankful.