NATCHEZ &045; Natchez and Adams County may be getting a new severe weather siren, but not before tornado season.

At the request of the Adams County Board of Supervisors Civil Defense Director George Souderes is looking into how much a siren would cost. It is still too early to know if funding will be available,

Souderes said.

&uot;The board has asked me to check into what a siren would cost and to check if there are any grants,&uot; Souderes said. &uot;Right now, everywhere I’ve looked there are no grants for that.&uot;

Souderes quoted a price of $25,000 for a new siren to the board at Monday’s meeting.

&uot;I’m sure there’s some type of creativity you can come up with using homeland security money,&uot; board President Darryl Grennell told Souderes at the meeting.

Natchez and Adams County currently have four sirens, on Highland Boulevard and U.S. 61 South, at the fire station on Liberty Road, near the middle school on Martin Luther King Jr. and at the central fire station on Main Street, but many areas in the county are not covered.

&uot;There are a lot of areas that need the outdoor warning sirens,&uot; Souderes said. &uot;We need numerous out in the county in different communities. And there are some sections in the city we would like to close the ranks with the existing sirens.&uot;

All four of the existing sirens are outdoor warning systems only, meaning they are not guaranteed to be heard from indoors. They are also powered by electricity, and if the power fails, they will not work, Souderes said.

The last time the sirens were sounded due to severe weather was on March 8, 2003. And the last tornado-like winds in the county were in February 1998, Souderes said.

The official tornado season as recognized by the National Weather Service begins in the middle of February and ends during the summer.

Souderes said a new siren would be an addition and not a replacement of an old siren.

Three of the current sirens were funded by a federal grant that is no longer in existence.

If the decision to purchase a new siren is made, the office of civil defense and the Board of Supervisors would have to find a way to pay for it, Souderes said.