The Valley was struck by severe weather and tornado alerts on Thursday evening, but some folks in Mahoning County may have gotten a delayed warning.

According to Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director, Andrew Frost, multiple areas of Mahoning County were not alerted by the sounding of the tornado sirens right away.

Frost tells 21 News that the failure was due to an internet error. 

Mahoning County EMA also has dispatch centers to set the sirens off manually, but some areas still had trouble hearing the sirens right away due to the same error. 

EMA was eventually able to get the sirens to sound in all areas through alternative methods. 

Frost tells 21 News that EMA is working to address this issue.

"We know that this is absolutely unacceptable and we will make corrections," Frost said. 

The exact locations of the tornado siren failures are unconfirmed at this time. 

21 News also reached out to Trumbull County's EMA Director who tells us Trumbull County has had no reported failures of the tornado warning sirens at this time.

StormTracker 21 Chief Meteorologist Eric Wilhelm says that, for most people, tornado sirens should not be the primary way to receive severe weather alerts.  "Sirens are an outdated and very unreliable technology and they are not designed to be heard indoors. Everyone should have multiple ways of getting warnings, including push alerts on the StormTracker 21 weather app. You can also sign up for text alerts at wfmj.com. Weather radios are inexpensive and a very dependable way to be warned; they do not depend on an internet connection." he added.