I’ve lived in the Midwest my whole life. I’ve heard many tornado sirens, been through many watches and warnings, and never once actually been close to a tornado that did any damage.
A few months ago I was woken in the middle of the night by my wife who heard sirens. I was groggy, and before I was convinced to get out of bed, the sirens stopped. This has happened dozens of times in my life, and felt entirely routine - there was no panic. A few minutes later my phone gave an emergency alert announcing a Tornado Watch. I decided it was time to move to the basement, so I went downstairs and set up candles and blankets, and then began the process of gently waking my 3 young children in an attempt to move them without terrifying them.
As I moved the last of them, I glanced at a clock and saw it was 11:53. We moved to the basement and all was quiet. It seemed like another false alarm.
The next morning I discovered that the tornado hit two blocks away from me, and leveled entire street’s worth of houses. Radar confirmed the tornado passed through my neighborhood at 11:50. If I had been two blocks south, at least me and my son would be dead. Potentially more of us.
Alarm fatigue is real, but don’t let it happen with tornado sirens. They come quick and hit hard.