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Broken Bow reports EF1 tornado touchdown; council adopts clarified siren policy and discusses storm shelter
Summary
City staff told the council that the National Weather Service found an EF1 tornado touched down July 16; the council heard a new siren-activation policy placing primary activation with Custer County Communications and discussed pursuing a public storm shelter.
City Administrator Dave Schmidt told the Broken Bow City Council on July 23 that the National Weather Service and Custer County Emergency Management determined an EF1 tornado "with peak winds of 100 mph" touched down in the rear lot of Anderson Auto Tech during the July 16 storm. Schmidt said the storm also produced strong outflow downbursts that damaged a Culligan building, stripped a metal roof onto an adjacent structure and caused a localized electrical outage; power to most of the community was restored by 11:30 p.m. the night of the storm and full service returned by noon July 18. He said city employees logged 86 man-hours clearing debris and restoring services.
Fire Chief Dustin Wattson told the council the city has revised how tornado sirens will be activated: when the National Weather Service includes the city in the geographic area of a tornado, Custer County Communications will trigger the tornado sirens. The Fire Department retains the ability to activate sirens locally if spotters on the ground deem conditions threatening; Wattson said spotters with hand-held radios can set off sirens as needed. Current siren programming makes them sound continuously for four minutes unless shut off earlier, and the city is evaluating whether to adjust that duration. For liability reasons, officials no longer will signal an automated "all clear"; residents are being asked to make their own determination about when danger has passed.
Mayor Rod Sonnichsen and councilmembers publicly thanked first responders, utility crews and community volunteers for their work during the storm restoration and noted coordination with Black Hills Energy and Custer County Emergency Management. Sonnichsen said he will pursue establishing or securing a publicly designated storm shelter for future events.
The council received no motion or formal vote on the siren policy at this meeting; the report and policy description were presented as an operational update. The mayor and staff encouraged residents to rely on multiple channels of warning and to follow spotter guidance and official instructions during severe weather.
