Tornado sirens blare across Tennessee in statewide drill

JACKSON, Tenn. — Sirens went off across the Volunteer State Friday, warning of a tornado, but don’t worry — it was just a drill.

“These are drills that bring awareness to tornadoes and bring them to the forefronts of our minds,” Jackson-Madison County School Safety Coordinator Michael Morris said.

The drill is sponsored by the National Weather Service. They sounded the alarm at 9:30 a.m. for all students, elementary to high school, to participate.

“Here in Jackson over the last 10-15 years we received multiple tornadoes,” Morris said. “And there are a lot of children in schools like this and kindergartners and second graders who weren’t around at that time, and they need to have an awareness as well.”

WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News was there as students at Arlington Elementary School took to the hallways to practice.

“The students come out with their teachers,” Morris said. “The teachers will bring them out in the hallways, and the students in the hallways will get down and face the wall in a crouch position.”

Teachers have different colored cards, and they hold up green when all their students are accounted for.

“Make sure you are away from any windows or doors, also any glass — anything a tornado could blow through with strong winds,”  Morris said.

We asked how school leaders teach students about severe weather without scaring them.

“Teachers teach what the procedures are and they go into the hallway and show them, so when it actually occurs they know what to do,” Morris said.