Don’t worry about that sound you might hear late Wednesday morning, it will only be a test of the early warning system at Dominion Virginia Power’s Surry Power Station.
The station will test its early warning sirens at around 11:10 a.m. Wednesday. The test will consist of a three-minute tone sounded by 71 sirens in Williamsburg, Newport News, Surry County, James City County, York County and Isle of Wight.
State and local officials from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Dominion Virginia Power and officials from surrounding localities test the sirens, which are located within a 10-mile radius of the plant, quarterly on the second Wednesdays of March, June, September and December.
In case of an actual emergency at the Surry Power Station, citizens would hear four three-minute sirens, each separated by one minute of silence. The total time for actual emergency notification is 15 minutes.
Virginia Department of Emergency Management officials said citizens should listen to local radio or TV stations that broadcasting emergency information for instructions whenever the sirens are sounded.
Additional information about the siren system and emergency notification can be found in the annual Surry Power Station emergency information calendar mailed to households in the communities noted above.
The next test of the Surry siren system will be Wednesday, September 14.
