After deadly storms, this city in New Jersey is installing warning sirens

A new emergency warning system is being installed in a flood-prone city in New Jersey after several storms turned deadly this summer — within a month of each other — and caused extensive property damage.

The idea is to more proactively warn residents of weather-linked threats, extending their opportunity to secure their safety and their families’ safety.

Outside the North Plainfield home she used to share with her brother, Rocco, Gigi Neal explains why she believes weather warning sirens would have saved her brother’s life.

“He would never have gone out,” Neal said. “But it wasn’t raining here, nothing was happening here.”

Had a warning siren gone out, Neal says her brother would never have left the house.

Rocco Sansone, 79 was one of three people killed in the Plainfield area during a spate of July storms. He was driving on July 3 when a powerful storm came through, uprooting trees with 60 mph winds. One of those trees crashed onto Sansone’s vehicle, killing both him and his passenger.

Eleven days after that, another major storm hit Plainfield. Two more people were killed — women whose vehicles were swept away in flash floods.

Abby Levenson, the business administrator for the city of Plainfield, says it’s time for warning sirens.

“These weather events are getting more severe and more localized,” Levenson said, “so we want something in place for Plainfield and Plainfield only because we had some storms that hit just Plainfield.”

Plainfield plans to spend close to half a million dollars to install seven weather alarms in various locations. In the event of severe weather, sirens will sound and an announcement like “seek shelter immediately” will be broadcast on a speaker loud enough for residents to hear in their basements or cars.

“To have a way to send people a message in their vehicles would be very impactful here,” Levenson said.