Associate Dean of Students, Michelle Hall, forwards this official response from Agnes Scott’s Interim Communications Director, Jennifer Owen, after I inquired to the reasons for activating the tornado siren for a flash flood warning late in the evening on September 20th.

The Agnes Scott siren was activated around midnight on Sept. 20, when the dispatcher on duty received an emergency weather notification from DeKalb County. Members of the college and Decatur community are accustomed to hearing the siren during a tornado warning, but there may be other rare occasions when it is activated. While it was the dispatcher’s intent was to alert people to the dangers of the severe weather, we understand the nature of threat may not have been clearly communicated and that some members of our community were alarmed unnecessarily as a result. The college is reviewing its protocol to ensure that the use of the siren is always in line with the nature of the threat.