Emergency communication system
161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Because Joplin is located in a tornado-heavy area of the country, many people considered the tornado sirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited until they received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such as seeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. In the aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warnings take risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency. NOAA Officials are considering ways to change the warning system to distinguish smaller tornadoes from more deadly ones.
Hurricane Hilda
The majority of deaths associated with Hilda in Louisiana were a result of tornadoes spawned by the hurricane in its outer peripheral rainbands and squall lines, which began tracking across the region on October 3. Eight tornadoes occurred in Louisiana due to the hurricane, of which two were waterspouts. Despite tracking for only near Larose, Louisiana, a tornado killed 22 people and injured 165 others, destroying 35 homes in the process. Automobiles in the path of the twister were also damaged. Debris picked up by the tornado was found away in Grand Coteau, Louisiana. No other tornado in the state resulted in deaths, though multiple twisters in the New Orleans metropolitan area caused extensive damage to several automobiles and buildings and injured five. The same tornadoes also knocked down power lines, knocking out power in localized areas. KLEB was knocked off the air as a result of these outages.