Latest news with #siren
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
AFL fans have been puzzled by a sound on TV broadcasts for 45 years - and now the mystery has finally been solved
For almost five decades, AFL fans have been left puzzled by a strange siren call that has echoed around footy grounds during match broadcasts - and now the mystery has finally been solved. While the NRL has the phantom siren, AKA Gosh Daher, who has fooled footy fans, players and even officials by mimicking the fulltime hooter, the AFL has the Whoo-Whoo Lady. Wherever Collingwood plays, fans can hear her call every time the opposition is trying to work the ball out of pressure following a Pies behind. Now her identity has been revealed as she explained why she has been making the booming sound for more than 40 years. 'My name's Leanne, I'm known as the siren lady, the whoo-whoo lady or the ambulance lady,' the Magpies fanatic said on TikTok. 'I've been doing it for 45 years. Collingwood superfan Leanne (pictured) has revealed as the voice behind the strange siren sound, which she uses to put the opposition off their game 'It's for when the players on our side kick a point [a behind], and then the opposition is kicking back in. 'Because it's to try and distract them, put them off. The players have told me they love it.' While the players may love it, there are plenty of opposition supporters who can't stand it. There is even a Reddit thread on annoying fans and Leanne and her siren sound is at the very top. 'At all Collingwood games in Victoria - and most away games - one of the cheer squad members makes the loudest, most annoying siren-like sound until the moment the opposition player has disposed of the ball,' a footy fan posted. 'It's one of those little things that is close to the most annoying part of any game.' Others commented on the TikTok post, accusing the diehard Collingwood supporter of ruining the spectacle for others. 'No consideration for anyone nearby regardless of who they barracking for,' one posted. 'I wish I never heard it because now I hear it all the time,' another wrote. Leanne has heard all the hate before, though, and it doesn't faze her. 'I don't even realise I am doing it now, I just get up and do it,' she said. 'I'm sorry for the people that hate it and I know it's very loud. 'But it something that I just can't, when I come to think about it, trying to stop. I can't.' Now that her identity has been revealed, Leanne is collecting new fans of her distinctive sound. 'See, now I know the reason behind it, it's less annoying. There's a purpose and a passion there. Generally only hear it on TV for Marvel games but I'll listen out for it now I know the reason,' one fan commented. 'This fan's energy is absolutely contagious! You can feel the passion radiating through their cheers, truly bringing the game to life,' added another.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Petition demands new storm warning system in flood-ravaged Texas Hill Country
Nearly 40,000 people have signed a petition "urgently" calling for officials to create an early warning siren system for the flood-ravaged Texas hill country. The petition, created by Nicole Wilson of San Antonio, demands that modern outdoor emergency sirens be installed in hard-hit Kerr County to provide warnings for floods, tornadoes, and other life-threatening emergencies. "The tragic events at Camp Mystic and the devastating flooding along the Guadalupe River that happened in July are stark reminders that severe weather can strike with little notice," Wilson wrote on July 5. "A well-placed siren system will provide critical extra minutes for families, schools, camps, businesses, and visitors to seek shelter and evacuate when needed. "This is not just a wish ‒ it is a necessary investment in public safety," added Wilson, 42, an Army veteran and married mother of three. The petition comes as the death toll from the floods has risen to at least 120, while search and rescue teams and volunteers desperately scour for bodies. Ninety-six of those killed in Texas were in Kerr County in central Texas. More than 160 people remain missing, authorities said. At least 27 of the deaths were children and counselors at Camp Mystic, a beloved girls' Christian camp situated along the river. Wilson said she "strongly believes" that if there had been audible siren warnings at the camp, it could've given camp counselors and campers ‒ who had little notice when the flash flooding began ‒ enough time to possibly evacuate. "I personally have no doubt that even with an extra five minutes, those counselors would've seen the scenario and taken themselves to higher ground," Wilson, who served as a Sergeant First Class in the Army and specialized in military intelligence, told USA TODAY on July 9. "I strongly believe more lives would've been saved." Seeking hope: Search teams scour for more than 160 still missing in Texas flooding: Live updates Flood warning systems typically use a variety of resources ranging from advanced weather forecasting and real-time data collection to alert officials and the public about the potential for flooding, according to Alex Tardy, a former longtime warning coordination meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These systems usually involve monitoring rainfall, water levels, and stream flow through sensors inside and out of the water and automated reporting to a central station, Tardy said. When certain thresholds are met, for example, if rain, flood, or river waters are rising, a series of alerts can be issued through sirens, depending on location, and text messages, added Tardy, who runs Weather Echo, a San Diego-based weather and climate data consulting company. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for Kerrville County in the early hours of July 4, but people at the camp may not have gotten the warnings in time. "In a perfect world, you have a local warning system where officials can use any methods, including sirens, to notify their residents," Tardy said. How to properly warn residents, camps and parks along the Guadalupe River of potential flooding and other disasters has been debated for years, Wilson said. Initially seeking 1,000 signatures for her petition, Wilson said it is past time that Kerr County, part of a region nicknamed "Flash Flood Alley," receives an updated flood warning system. And she believes the state or federal government "absolutely" should be able to fund it. "We are not taking 'no' as an option any longer," Wilson said. "There are no more excuses." Nearly a decade ago, Kerr County asked for $1 million to build a flood warning system that would have upgraded 20 water gauge systems, added new water level sensors and posts, and created software and a website to distribute the information to the public in real-time. But records indicate that the Texas Division of Emergency Management repeatedly denied the county's request. Kerr County has long used software called CodeRed to notify residents about floods, fires and other emergencies via cell phone. In 2020, county leaders voted to expand CodeRed by integrating it with a FEMA system, which enabled it to alert people passing through the area, even if they didn't have the local CodeRed app. Clinging to rafters: How staff at all-boys camp in Texas saved hundreds from floodwaters The expansion, however, did not include the upgraded gauges, new sensors or the public website the county had requested. The upcoming repairs and funeral costs should serve as haunting reminders that funding for a better early warning system isn't optional, Wilson said. She believes Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will find a way through state funding. And if not, Wilson hopes President Donald Trump, who plans to visit the area on July 11, will provide funding for a new siren system. Wilson said she plans to testify during a special legislative session in Austin later this month, hoping to use her petition as a catalyst for an early warning siren system. "Anything short of it is unacceptable," Wilson said. 'The loss of future life is too important because of this region's long history of flooding." Contributing: Kenny Jacoby and Rick Jervis, USA TODAY This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Petition demands new early warning siren system in Texas Hill Country
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
In deadly Texas floods, one town had what some didn't: A wailing warning siren
As heavy rain triggered flash flood warnings along the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country early Friday, the small unincorporated town of Comfort had something its neighbors upriver in Kerr County didn't: wailing sirens urging residents to flee before the water could swallow them. Comfort had recently updated its disaster alert system, installing a new siren in the volunteer fire department's headquarters and moving the old one to a low-lying area of town along Cypress Creek, a tributary of the Guadalupe that is prone to flooding. Friday was the first time the new two-siren system had been used outside of tests, providing a last-minute alarm for anyone who hadn't responded to previous warnings on their cellphones or evacuation announcements from firefighters driving around town. 'People knew that if they heard the siren, they gotta get out,' said Danny Morales, assistant chief of the Comfort Volunteer Fire Department. Morales said that no one died in Comfort, a town of about 2,300 people in Kendall County. But in Kerr County about 20 miles away, dozens of people, including young girls staying at Camp Mystic, a riverside Christian summer camp, were washed away when the Guadalupe surged over its banks and swamped the surrounding countryside. As of Monday evening, officials said, 104 people had been confirmed dead, 84 of them in Kerr County, including dozens of children. Kerr County has no siren system despite years of debate, in part because some local officials felt it was too expensive to install. The part of Texas Hill Country known as 'flash flood alley' has seen rising waters many times before, but the swift and punishing destruction over the Fourth of July has focused attention on whether local officials are doing enough to protect their residents as climate change causes more frequent and severe weather disasters and the federal government is slashing spending on emergency preparedness. The swollen river has receded, leaving behind heartbreaking signs of the devastation: little girls' suitcases and clothes strewn along the wrecked cabin grounds and plush toys caked with detritus, twisted metal and gnarled vehicles. Three days after the flooding, searchers were still picking through downed trees and hunting through thick black mud for those still missing. Parents' hopes were dimming as the days dragged on with no signs of life. It is impossible to know whether a siren system in Kerr County would have saved lives; they are meant to alert people who are outdoors, not in bed indoors, as many of Kerr County's victims were when the river rose overnight — at one point by 26 feet in just 45 minutes. The weather service issued a flood watch for the area Thursday afternoon and an urgent flash flood warning for Kerr County at 1:14 a.m. Friday, a move that triggers the wireless emergency alerts on cellphones. By the time flooding inundated low-lying parts of Kendall County, where Comfort is located, it was later Friday morning. The first weather service flash flood alert for Kendall came at 7:24 a.m. When the sirens went off, many residents were already awake and aware of the dangerous flooding. A Facebook video recorded by Jeff Flinn, the managing editor of The Boerne Star, shows the emergency sirens in Comfort sounding at 10:52 a.m.; he said the alert lasted for about 30 seconds. Kerr County was relying on the emergency alerts that blare on cellphones. Those alerts may not get through, particularly in rural areas with bad service or in the night when phones are off or when there are no phones around; the girls at the summer camp weren't allowed to bring them. And some may choose to ignore them, because they're bombarded by phone alerts. Some Texas officials have blamed the National Weather Service, arguing it didn't do a good enough job forecasting rainfall and issuing timely flood warnings. But some independent meteorologists and a former weather service official told NBC News that the agency performed as well as it could given the unpredictability of rain and flash flooding and the timing of the disaster. Tom Moser, a former Kerr County commissioner, said he began looking into a warning system for his area after flooding in Hays County, which was overwhelmed by the Blanco River, killed 13 people over Memorial Day weekend in 2015. Kerr County officials debated various options, including one for an alert system that included sensors and sirens, and the cost was about $1 million, Moser said. 'There were a number of people that did not like the sirens going off because they go off accidentally,' Moser said. 'They didn't want that disturbance in the Hill Country.' At a March 2016 commissioners' meeting, Rusty Hierholzer, then the Kerr County sheriff, was adamant that the deadly flooding in the Hays County community of Wimberley was a warning for the need to install sirens in addition to a phone app notification system known as Code Red already in use. In Wimberley, some people didn't get alerts on their phones, 'so yes, you need both,' Hierholzer said, according to a transcript of the meeting. 'You need the sirens, and you need Code Red to try and make sure we'll notify everybody as we can when it's coming up.' During a follow-up discussion about the proposal that August, then-Commissioner H.A. 'Buster' Baldwin questioned the flood warning system they were considering, saying, 'I think this whole thing is a little extravagant for Kerr County, with sirens and such,' according to a transcript. They estimated the system would cost $1 million, and they didn't have the money to add it to the budget. Moser said they also didn't get disaster relief funding they'd asked for from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 'As a matter of fact, there were no grants available we thought we could get in a timely fashion,' Moser said. But he believes the system would have been valuable. 'I don't know if it could have been 100% preventable,' he said of the flooding death toll. 'But it could have been improved.' Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said that it was unclear whether there was any communication between law enforcement and Camp Mystic after the initial flood watch alert went out but that the lack of proper cell service and limited communications towers in the Hill Country remain 'very challenging.' 'We definitely want to dive in and look at all those things, from cell service tower to radio communications or emergency alerting,' Rice said, adding that 'we're looking forward to doing that once we can get the search and rescue complete.' Rep. Wes Virdell, a Republican state lawmaker who represents Kerrville, recently voted against a bill that would have created a grant program to assist local governments in obtaining emergency communications equipment. He told The Texas Tribune on Sunday he would have voted differently, given the latest flooding, but he insisted to NBC News that the bill wasn't transparent enough. Virdell said that instead, officials could look at how to ramp up cell service in certain remote areas where people may gather and ensure that emergency alerts get to phones. Sirens may be effective in some ways, he added, but 'unless you're outside, you might not even hear that thing.' Cruz Newberry, who owns Table Rock Alerting Systems, a Missouri company, installed Comfort's new computer-backed system last year at a cost of about $60,000. Morales said a local nonprofit group provided most of the money, with Kendall County kicking in a smaller amount. The system, linked to the National Weather Service by a satellite dish that can withstand violent weather, can be set up to automatically trigger sirens when the agency declares flash flood emergencies for the area. But Comfort opts to trigger its sirens manually, when officials notice flood waters have risen past a certain point. Newberry stressed that sirens are a piece of a broader warning apparatus that also includes the news media, social media and cellphone alerts. Sirens, he said, are a measure of last resort. 'The nice thing with an outdoor warning system is it's one of the few methods that local officials have at their disposal where they can literally press a button and warn citizens themselves,' Newberry said. 'It's difficult to ignore a siren blaring for three minutes straight.' Lorena Guillen, who owns Blue Oak RV Park along the Guadalupe in Kerrville, said that at 2:30 a.m. Friday the river seemed calm but that an hour later it had risen 10 feet beyond its banks and began sweeping up cars. In an interview with MSNBC, Guillen said she went door to door in the pounding rain urging guests to flee. Some made it out barefoot and shirtless. Others didn't. She recalled hearing screams in the dark, honks from cars floating in the river, cabins splintering against trees. Guillen said that in Texas Hill Country, cellphone and internet service is often spotty, and often people turn off their phones, making it hard for them to receive warnings. It could have helped, she said, to have had 'a siren like they do with tornadoes,' she said. 'Sirens go off and wake people up.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
What you need to know the emergency alarm to alert millions of phones
A 10-second 'Armageddon alert' siren will sound on millions of UK mobile phones later this year as part of a test of the government's emergency alert system. The emergency alert is used to warn if there is a danger to life nearby, in instances like extreme weather. The alert has been scheduled to take place on 7 September, in its second ever nationwide drill. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) – which can sound an alarm through mobile phones and tablets - has been deployed four times since it was launched in 2023. It was most recently used in January this year, when 4.5m people in Scotland and Northern Ireland received the alert over Storm Eowyn. The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a government service aimed at warning people if there's a danger to life nearby. The system causes a mobile phone or tablet to make a loud siren-like sound that lasts about 10 seconds, even if it's set on silent, along with advice on how to stay safe and a phone number or link to the government website for more information. It may also cause a device to vibrate or read out the alert. The alert was used in areas hit hardest by Storm Darragh this winter. Localised flash flooding in Cumbria and Leicestershire, and the discovery of a Second World War bomb in Plymouth in February 2024, also triggered the alert for nearby residents. According to the government website, you may get alerts about: severe flooding, fires or extreme weather. It says emergency alerts will only be sent by the emergency services or government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies. "You'll get alerts based on your current location - not where you live or work," says the website. "You do not need to turn on location services to receive alerts." If driving or riding when you receive the alert, the advice is to not read or respond to it but to find somewhere safe and legal to stop before reading the message. "If there's nowhere safe and legal to stop, and nobody else is in the vehicle to read the alert, you can listen to news on live radio to find out about the emergency," it adds. The emergency alert system will be tested at around 3pm on 7 September. The national exercise that its test is part of is expected to be held on different days over several months in the autumn, involving thousands of participants across the UK. During the test, the UK's approximately 87 million mobile devices will ring out with a high pitched alarm and vibrate for approximately 10 seconds, while a message will appear on the screen making it clear the alert is only a test. Ahead of the national test, ministers are spearheading a public awareness campaign to ensure people understand when it is taking place. It is possible to turn the emergency alert system off by opting out, for example if you are the victim of domestic abuse and have a secret phone you do not wish to alert your abuser to. To do this on iPhone, go to 'settings' and in your search bar type in 'emergency alerts' and turn off Severe alerts and Emergency alerts. To opt out on Android phones and tablet, search your settings for 'emergency alerts' then turn off 'severe alerts' and 'extreme alerts'. If this does not work on either iPhone or Android, contact the device manufacturer. Emergency phone alert: Should people turn it off? (Yahoo News UK) Emergency alert sent to mobile phones over unexploded wartime bomb in Plymouth (PA) 'Quite terrifying' as thousands get 'emergency alert' on their mobiles this evening (North Wales Live)
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
DEMA to test Emergency Alert System, nuclear-generating station sirens in Delaware in July
The Delaware Emergency Management Agency will test local emergency sirens in July. On July 1, at 7:20 p.m., DEMA, Delaware State Police and the Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. will conduct a quarterly test of the Alert and Notification system for the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear-generating stations in Salem County, New Jersey. During the test, which is done to monitor the integrity of the siren system, sirens will be activated for three to five minutes, followed by a test message of the Emergency Alert System on local radio stations, according to There are 37 sirens in Delaware within a 10-mile radius of the nuclear-generating stations. These sirens cover an area north of Delaware City, west of Middletown, and south of Woodland Beach. During an actual emergency, the sirens would produce a series of steady three- to five-minute siren sounds that would alert residents to turn their radio to an EAS station for emergency instructions and information, according to For more information about the test, call DEMA at 877-SAY-DEMA (877-729-3362) or (302) 659-3362 and ask for Stephen Davis. New Jersey-Delaware battle? NJ senator wants to rename Delaware Bay – Trump style – and take land from the First State Sneak peek: Delaware State Fair 2025 entertainment preview: Racing Corgis, Fluffy comedian & more Got a tip or a story idea? Contact Krys'tal Griffin at kgriffin@ This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: DEMA to test alert system for nuclear-generating stations in July
