All Hazard Alert Broadcast System tsunami warning sirens will sound in communities along the North Olympic Peninsula coast at noon today.
In Jefferson County, sirens are at three sites in Port Townsend — the Port Townsend marina, Point Hudson and Fort Worden — and on the Hoh reservation on the West End.
In Clallam County, sirens are at Diamond Point, Dungeness Fire Station, Four Seasons Ranch, Marine Drive in Port Angeles, Lower Elwha Klallam Community Center, Clallam Bay, the Quileute A-Ka-Lat Community Center in LaPush and two sites in Neah Bay.
The sirens will be heard only by people outside at these coastal communities.
“If you are outside and hear the chimes, use that sound as a cue to look around your surroundings,” said Jamye Wisecup, program coordinator for the emergency management unit of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
The chimes will be followed by a voice saying the sound was only a test.
A similar notification test can be heard inside buildings on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, AHAB radios throughout Clallam County at noon Wednesday.
This will be a voice-only test of the NOAA alert system.
During a real event, both the AHAB sirens and NOAA AHAB radios would sound a warning message.
“The testing of the AHAB siren and radio systems is a key component of Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s and Clallam County’s Tsunami Ready program,” Wisecup said.
“If the ground shakes enough for you to notice, you are probably experiencing the movement of a local earthquake,” she added.
“Remember to drop, cover and hold until the shaking stops. The earthquake itself is the warning system and is the signal to evacuate out of low-lying coastal areas and immediately move to higher ground.”
The Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management urges residents to purchase a NOAA weather radio for use in emergencies.
The department will program the radio for free.
For more information, phone the department at 360-385-9368.
Clallam County residents who want to let officials know where they were when they heard the test can phone Wisecup at 360-417-2525.
For more information, visit www.emd.wa.gov, www.clallam.net/EmergencyManagement or www.jeffcoeoc.org.
