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Original poster

Are WW2 sirens going off near anyone?

59 replies

FlickyEyeliner · 09/02/2020 16:07

I think I would be properly shitting myself Shock

I thought they would have all been removed! Did you all get warning or did they just start going?

OP posts:
Teaandbiscuits88 · 09/02/2020 16:11

Pretty sure they are flood warning sirens...

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime · 09/02/2020 16:12

Nope, I think all of ours have been removed. I live in a coastal town though and they were used as flood warnings until fairly recently.

I remember being in a community centre building in my teens around 2002 and they tested it. It was in the roof above us and made the whole building shake.

JacquesHammer · 09/02/2020 16:12

Not far from here, used as flood warnings sirens.

labazsisgoingmad · 09/02/2020 16:15

i remember when i was a child mid 70s i think every monday night just at corrie was starting the alarm started in the town i asked mum as it was not ww2 but she said something about preparation just in case was there a war on then? i am thinking middle east or falklands but prob years out phaps it was nuclear threats

AStarSoBright · 09/02/2020 16:15

They're used as flood warnings about 3 miles from me. I'd be unlikely to hear them today though, the wind is too noisy!

picklesdragonisawelshdragon · 09/02/2020 16:17

They had a warning siren at a chemical plant where I used to live. Was supposed to warn you to stay in.

WorraLiberty · 09/02/2020 16:19

There are a few left in my dad's borough and the council tests them yearly.

LittleMissGrumpyGrot · 09/02/2020 16:23

They were in parts of Leeds today. They installed them after the Boxing Day floods.

SanFranBear · 09/02/2020 16:26

I'm on the coast, close to number of military bases. The siren we hear is to advise that a boat coming in to dock has live ammunition aboard.

The first few times I heard it (not from the area), I pooped myself as just seemed sobout of context.

windymillersmill · 09/02/2020 16:28

I think a lot of them are still there but not used very often - fortunately.

Usesomecaution · 09/02/2020 16:31

One is tested weekly near here. It would signify a serious chemical leak from the local water treatment works.

QuestionableMouse · 09/02/2020 16:31

@picklesdragonisawelshdragon

Same for the place I grew up which is with in walking distance to Seal Sands which sounds nice but is a massive petrochemical complex. Oh and there's a nuclear power plant and oil tank farm close by too.

Had a few scary moments where the toxic alert sirens would go off!

MooseBeTimeForSummer · 09/02/2020 16:45

There was a large chemical plant near where I used to live. Sirens were tested every week (I seem to remember it was Wednesday) at 2pm.

MinesAPintOfTea · 09/02/2020 16:48

Our last house they were tested monthly for chemical spills. A bit eiry and used to make baby DS cry if we were out when they went off

Bananabixfloof · 09/02/2020 16:49

They are flood warnings often times. Well in this weather they probably will be.
I've been in the local woods today and it's like a bog. Where there used to be a trickle of water is now gushing, where there was an actual water way is roaring.

Melioration · 09/02/2020 16:50

I used to live near a quarry that used them just before they blasted.

Kernowgal · 09/02/2020 16:51

There's a 1pm siren in Sheffield city centre and the first time I heard it I nearly shat myself. It's just telling you that it's 1pm but I had visions of Threads come true!

Rachie1973 · 09/02/2020 16:55

Lol. Fawley petrol refinery used them in case of an incident, I recall they tested them periodically and sometimes you could hear them all across the new Forest heathland

Elderflower14 · 09/02/2020 16:59

About nine years ago I was at the top of the Eiffel Tower while on a mini break. I nearly shit myself when I heard a WW2 siren. I seriously wondered if WW3 had been declared while I was at the top of one of Europe's biggest building... Do you know what it was? It was a sodding factory announcing it was lunchtime to the workers!!! 😡 😡 😡 😡 😡
I was VERY pleased to get back to terra firma!!

KatyaZamolodchikova · 09/02/2020 16:59

They have sirens nearish to us for flood warning. Not so close we can hear them here but in a village I have friends in. They were especially affected by the Boxing Day floods.

ManonBlackbeak · 09/02/2020 17:00

They will almost certainly be linked to the Storm currently raging. Probably a flood warning.

Original poster
FlickyEyeliner · 09/02/2020 17:04

Yes, the BBC said they were flood warnings. It's the screech of them though, so eerie.

OP posts:
NK346f2849X127d8bca260 · 09/02/2020 17:07

We grew up just down the road from Broadmoor, test siren went off at 10am every monday morning. We used to get excited when it went at any other time, not so adults remember being on school lockdown twice too.

dayowl · 09/02/2020 17:11

It’d scare the crap out of me if I heard them

MitziK · 09/02/2020 17:14

That's always been the point of them - to be such a weird, horrible sound that everybody hears them and realises there's something important/dangerous happening.