While I agree with some of you that the power outages as well as population density played a role in the high death toll, I must raise a concern I have, that people have become desensitized and complacent with the current warning system. We have all of this great new technology that can recognize every little spin up tornado and along with that, we issue tornado warnings on these little spin ups, when I think a severe thunderstorm warning would sometimes suffice.
On top of that, everytime severe weather enters an area, most news outlets are going wall to wall with coverage, televisions are beeping warnings loudly, and emergency managers are sounding tornado sirens all over a county. I can tell you from firsthand experience, that anytime a tornado warning polygon touches any portion of Davidson County, TN, you will hear the sirens blasting in every part of the county that is equipped. I saw this on Easter Sunday, just a couple of weeks ago. There was a birdfart spinup in very far northern Davidson County, while at the same time, I was 30 miles south/southwest and the tornado sirens were going off. Every time this happens, everyone is watching and waiting for their apocalypse to come, which never does. Now if we do this over and over and over, what happens? People laugh and think, "oh, they sound these sirens all the time and nothing ever happens". I have heard it...it has been said to me personally.
This is a huge problem that has to be addressed and I see very little discussion on it. I am not suggesting this was the case on April 27th, but it cannot be ignored.