Garbled tornado alert recording panned by Manitobans
Alert Ready automated recording could not pronounce community names properly
Manitoba's new emergency alert system was activated for the first time on Wednesday when a tornado was spotted east of Manitou, but some say they could not understand the garbled audio recording.
TheAlert Ready recording was broadcast on radio stations shortly before4:30 p.m. CT, when one of several funnel clouds in the area touched down.
A number of people who heard the warning complained that the automated voice message was incomprehensible, especially when it came to community nameslike Manitou and Pilot Mound.
@coubroughCBC @CBCManitoba it was brutal, particularly the town names!
—@wpgpuckstar@coubroughCBC @CBCManitoba it couldn't pronounce the town names
—@talladegagrl@coubroughCBC sounded like a french accent person whose first language was not English. Also very computer tin like sound
—@canadian5@coubroughCBC @CBCManitoba No, I couldn't figure out the towns the message was relaying! Worse computer voice ever!
—@aalarie@coubroughCBC @CBCManitoba no I couldn't. I understood the was an alert but locations were unintelligible.
—@mapmcburneySimilar concerns about the Alert Ready recordings surfaced in Alberta earlier this month,when CBC listeners could not make out the wording of a tornado warning message.
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DonMcLean, acouncillorin the Municipality ofPembina which includesManitou said there wasanother problem: no warning of Wednesday'stornado came until after it had touched down.
"I understand it's a work in progress, but I have photos of that particular tornado and the alert would have gone out probably moments before or as it was touching down, and that's not good enough," he said.
Others arguedthat a text message alert, similar to those used in the United States, would be more effective.
Earlier this year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission mandated all TV and radio broadcasters in Canada must be able to send out alert messages to local audiences.
Manitoba officials had tested the new Alert Ready system in the province in May.
No one from the provincial government was available to comment on the alert message on Wednesday night.
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