The City of Howardwick is getting ready to make some noise after installing three new storm sirens this week.
The $57,000 project replaces five older sirens and is being paid for largely by grant funds from the US Department of Agriculture, according to City Secretary Tammy Jordan.
The USDA provided $41,137.50 for the new sirens, Greenbelt Rural Electric Coop. provided $3,100 for poles and power, and the city paid the balance, Jordan said.
The new system will provide better coverage that the old system and can be radio-controlled by local officials and by dispatchers at the Donley County Sheriff’s Office. The sirens can be set to tone differently for fires and tornadoes.
The largest siren located north of the community building can put out 128 decibels at a distance of 100 feet and will cover a radius of one to 1¼ miles. Two smaller sirens are located in the city’s northeastern addition and on the southwest side of the city in the Nocona Hills section. Those sirens output 120 decibels and cover a radius up to three quarters of a mile.
Technicians with Storm Sirens, Inc., were working to install the system Tuesday and expected to be testing the system on Wednesday of this week.
Jordan said the city applied for funding for the system last October and was almost immediately approved. Installation comes now after a lightning strike this summer hit the old system.
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