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The Texas way: why the most disaster-prone US state is so allergic to preparing for disasters
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2025
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The siren system was shut down because the technology was unreliable and giving out way too many false alarms -- to the point where the residents were just ignoring it. It is a difficult problem because you need to give enough possible advance warning to evacuate, but not so much that they start tuning it out altogether. Even modern first-world countries struggle with this.
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/06/texas-disaster-warning-emergency-communication-bill-kerrville-floods/
The technology isn't unreliable. It's a question of implementation. It's a question about money and how much you want to spend refining and improving the software controlling it and surrounding sensors.