Is Twin Falls prepared for a real emergency?  The recent wind storm that knocked out power lines to the city water system forced us to face that question.  Now that the dust has settled on that emergency it's time to stand back and see just how prepared we would be if something major happened.

The first question to ask is, "how much of a responsibility should the city have to shoulder?"  Should the city have had backup generators for the pumping stations or should the general public have been prepared with extra water on hand?  To what degree should the city be forced to prepare?

If you want the city to be prepared for anything and everything, how much are you, the city tax payer, prepared to pay?  Generators that will run the pumps cost a lot of money.  If they city pumps remain running then that means the waste treatment plant must keep running.  Are you ready to dish out more for backup generators for that?

Back in the mid 1990's the entire western seaboard lost power due to a glitch somewhere in Wyoming.  Would the city be obligated to keep the power going if that happened again?  Money...money...money.

As far as I can see about the only obligation the city has during a crisis such as we had this week is to be able to contact the residents to tell us the city has a problem so we are going to be on your own until they get it fixed.  And that might be something the city leaders want to consider.  But even doing that can be difficult given the fact that even during the recent water crisis many residents didn't know anything was going on.  The media was blasting it out, Facebook was going berserk with the information, the TV station was making announcements and the local paper had notices on the web site.  Even still, many didn't have a clue.

What to do...what to do!  I propose the city invest in some warning sirens similar to what they use in the Midwest to warn of tornadoes.  When we hear the whistles blow that is our cue to turn on a radio or TV, go online or even call City Hall to find out what the problem is so we all can take appropriate action.

A siren system, with backup power, would be far cheaper than generators and other equipment to keep the city operating during a time if crisis.  After all, we are adults.  We should be able to look out for ourselves when the need arises and when we know there is a problem.

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