PERRY, Mich. – A tornado destroyed the city of Perry’s emergency siren as it barreled into town on Friday.
The EF-1 tornado struck the city of Perry, Michigan, in Shiawassee County at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023.
City officials said the siren was one of the first things hit, preventing people from being warned.
“We didn’t hear any sirens or anything,” resident Jason Hobbins said.
The city has a second tornado siren on the other side of town, but officials said it relies on the main siren to operate.
“We’ve been talking about new types of sirens the county has (like) free sirens available through your iPhone,” mayor Sue Hammond said. “We’ve been encouraging people for about a year to sign up for that. So hopefully people did.”
Hammond said a damaged siren is hard to anticipate.
No one was hurt, but the damage was extensive.
“It destroyed some our Department of Public Works buildings, it obviously badly damaged (and) destroyed our veterans memorial pavilion,” Hammond said.
Hobbins said he had to take a couple of days off work to help with the cleanup.
“We had a roof laying over here which I have no idea whose it is or where it’s from,” Hobbins said. “We had an extra trash can, we couldn’t figure out where it was from, just debris everywhere.”
The city has declared a state of emergency.
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