Duluth makes difficult decision to remove weather sirens

In 1998, an F2 tornado ripped through Dunwoody and into Duluth damaging homes and prompting cities across metro Atlanta to update their weather warning systems. Again in 2014, Duluth installed five new emergency weather sirens at a cost of $103,268. Now those weather sirens are nearing the end of their life and the cost to replace or repair them is even more expensive.

After a careful review of the costs and effectiveness of the weather sirens, Duluth has decided to remove the weather sirens.

In addition to cost considerations, the city found the radios the sirens use, because of their age, are not secured to police radios. According to Duluth, “This left open the possibility that an individual could ‘hack’ into the sirens. This occurred in Dallas in 2017.”