Gibson City woman credits WeatherCall for keeping her informed during severe storms
GIBSON CITY, Ill. (WCIA) – One week ago, intense thunderstorms with up to 100 mph winds and 5 tornadoes swept through McLean and Ford counties, leaving a trail of damage through the area.
READ: At least 5 tornadoes, 100 mph winds confirmed Thursday Night
For Gibson City Resident Susan Riley, storms like this aren’t something she wants to mess with. She keeps up with the forecast when severe weather threatens, and that was no exception on Thursday Night.
“I had been watching the forecast, and I knew there was the potential for some nasty storms in these parts,” said Riley.
That’s exactly what happened. Shortly before 9:00 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning was issued, and the storms rolled through.
“It was pretty wicked, I was a lot luckier than a lot of my neighbors. I lost one pretty good sized limb and had tons of branches and twigs. But my neighbors around me, some of them really got hit hard wit the bigger branches and even some trees that were down,” said Riley.
While the outdoor warning sirens did sound, Riley said she didn’t hear them from her home.
“I was shocked when I read online that they went off, because I couldn’t hear them.”
There are a number of reasons why outdoor warning sirens shouldn’t be counted on for reliable severe weather alerts. They are meant to be heard by those outside, often sound for different strength storms in municipalities, can break down or won’t sound in a power outage. Factor in heavy rain, wind and thunder and you really might not hear them.
But for Riley, she had signed up for WeatherCall and knew about the storms long before the sirens even had a chance to sound. Having WeatherCall and knowing that she will get calls for weather warnings makes a difference for her.
“I can grow immune to my apps and all those notifications. Just as soon as you said there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Ford County, I got all the notifications on all my apps, and then the phone call came right after that,” said Riley.
“It was Kevin Lighty, and it just said there is a severe thunderstorm warning for your area, and just be prepared.”
Having WeatherCall means Riley knows when severe weather threatens, even when she might not be paying attention to her phone.
“I find that I can sleep through notifications. If it’s really important, it’s a phone call because nobody gets a phone call these days any more. So I really like the fact that it’s a call. It’s easy enough to sign up for and one more way to get notified. The call would definitely wake me up if it happened overnight, that is what I appreciate about WeatherCall.”
To learn more about WeatherCall or to sign up, visit here.
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