KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
—
The Cass County Emergency Services Board is investigating complaints from residents about its emergency notification system.
The board issued a press release to KSHB Cass County Reporter Ryan Gamboa on Tuesday that stated the board identified and received complaints.
"The accuracy of severe weather notifications are of utmost importance to the CCESB and we want to assure our community that their safety is our highest priority," Marie Beauchamp, executive director, wrote in the news release.
Belton residents submitted photos to Gamboa that a tornado warning was "no longer in effect" with a time stamp of 5:21 p.m. on Friday.
According to the National Weather Service, the EF1 tornado took place at 5:19 p.m. to 5:24 p.m.
Jane Smith, who talked with KSHB 41 Cass County Reporter Ryan Gamboa on Monday, said she received the message and went back into her bedroom to lay down because she wasn't feeling well. Her home took a direct hit in Friday's tornado, ripping off doors inside the home, blowing out her bedroom windows and tearing off a portion of the roof.
"I think a lot of people rely on this [text message notification]," Smith said. "It gives you a good heads-up to go turn on the TV. It's concerning when they say it's all clear, but it's not. I'm going to rely on it, but I am still going to be watching the news on TV."
Smith says she went to lay down in the bedroom and if her husband would not have had their television on, she would have been in the room where the tornado did the most damage to her home.
"It's concerning to me, because I like to count on my county leaders," she added.
The Cass County Emergency Services Board was enacted in 2012, after voters approved a county 911 sales tax that's still being collected.
A requirement to serve on the elected emergency services board is members must have knowledge of emergency services and communications, according to the board's website.
Members of the initial board were required to represent the fire protection districts, ambulance districts, sheriff’s office, municipalities, and other emergency services, and the public.
Every odd calendar year, half of the board membership is up for re-election to four-year terms with a member-at-large, North District and South District Members.
The Cass County Emergency Notification System is a free service provided by the CCESB through the platform Everbridge, a third-party company.
"These NWS messages are automated to ensure they are communicated as quickly as possible," the press release states. "The investigation continues into the timeline of the Tornado Warning, the subsequent updates the NWS provided, and how the Everbridge system communicated those updates to our community... We will keep the public updated to ensure they can have confidence in the accuracy of these emergency communications notifications."
—
