Trumbull County 911 dispatchers sound tornado alarms

At around 10:27 a.m. Tuesday about 50 calls were placed to Trumbull's 911 center within minutes to report a funnel cloud and extreme weather in Cortland.

Some people were extremely worried about what they saw.  One caller exclaimed, "There is a tornado in Cortland and it's going towards the school right now. ...  My son is in that school!"

Trumbull County's 911 Director Ernie Cook explained, "When it comes to weather, it's better to be safe than sorry. We had not heard anything from the National Weather Service yet, so we called up to Cleveland and they told us to err on the side of caution, so we set off the tornado alarms." 

"As soon as we activated our sirens the National Weather Service confirmed rotation and notified Mercer County to say you've got to issue a tornado warning," said Cook. 

Trumbull is the 2nd largest county in the state with 637 square miles with Mercer County right over its northern border.

Trumbull dispatch workers do receive calls from people in the county asking why the sirens sounded yet there were no weather issues in their city, township, or village.

Cook explained, "It's simply a safety protocol. Mother nature can be very unpredictable. Our system worked. No one was hurt or killed. If you didn't have your power out with electrical lines down, or trees down, or damage to your home or vehicle, injuries, or a loss of life, then you are blessed. In this particular instance, due to callers telling us they saw rotational clouds that appeared to be touching the ground, we were kind of ahead of the curve. This popped out of nowhere. It's not tornado season. It's sunny and people were going about their business. This surprised everybody."