Sirens Didn't Sound For Nearly 15 Minutes After Tornado Warning

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO — The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for parts of St. Louis County around 4:45 Sunday afternoon, but almost 15 minutes passed before alerts went out and sirens sounded. Officials blamed a weather-related power outage.

"The power outage delayed the verification process, however the storm was still in the area so the sirens were activated," the St. Louis County Police Office of Emergency Management posted to Twitter.

Emergency officials apologized for the technical issue in a separate tweet and said they are working to ensure it doesn't happen again. "This is a good reminder for everyone to have a weather radio or app to also rely on during severe weather," officials said.

We apologize for the technical issue which caused the delay in activating the sirens this evening. We are working to ensure this does not happen again. This is a good reminder for everyone to have a weather radio or App to also rely on during severe weather. #MidwestReady
— St Louis County Police OEM (@StlCoOEM) November" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/StlCoOEM/s... 26, 2018

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Image via National Weather Service