It's not common for tornadoes to occur in the Valley, but just last week, a tornado just missed this area and actually touched in other parts of the state.

The area was under a tornado warning for about an hour, but some residents feel more could have been done to warn them. One resident feels that with a city of more than 45,000 people, some type of siren emergency system should be in place to warn residents when their lives are in danger.

"We need a city-wide alert system, and that should be priority with the city council," says Nancy Garber, a Harrisonburg resident.

That's why she spoke in front of the city council Tuesday night asking for the city to implement a siren system. Decades ago, the city did have an old civil defense alarm system on top of the old police department building.

"It would be sounded once a year as a test to make sure the siren was still functional, but other than that it sat around for years and was never used for any purpose whatosever," says Harrisonburg Fire Chief Larry Shifflett.

While Harrisonburg doesn't have the siren anymore, Mayor Rodney Eagle says there are options including getting something similar to systems some college campuses have with text messaging and sirens to alert the community.

"I'd like to look at it and see what's involved and what's out there. You know, the technology has come so far in the last couple of years and perhaps there is a better way we can do it that would more cost effective than what have looked at some time ago," says Eagle.

"And if the tornado had hit, you would have heard 'how's' from all over the place, the next week about 'why were we not warned? Why was the government not looking for us?' So I want our government to look out for us," says Garber.

Shifflett says the sirens would normally sound when the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning not a watch. However, Garber hopes the city will pick up this project and let people know where they can find public shelter in case of a tornado warning.