In this Times photo from April, Hanceville public works staff clear debris from roadsides in the Gilleyville subdivision, which sustained extensive damage from an EF-1 tornado in Easter Sunday’s wave of severe storms.

HANCEVILLE — Out of Hanceville’s three public tornado warning sirens, two are currently on the fritz. Until the city can repair or replace those two offline units, only the siren near Section Line Road across from the Wallace State Community College Campus will sound the alarm when foul weather moves in.

That means the city must get to work quick on the siren located near Magnolia Avenue in downtown Hanceville, as well as the one farther east at Steppville, At a specially-called meeting this week, the city council agreed to replace one of the units altogether, while repairing the other.

Mayor Kenneth Nail said it’s unclear how long each of the sirens had been down, but that workers discovered each had sustained electrical surge damage about a month ago during an inspection.

The new replacement siren, covered by insurance, will prevent that from occurring again, since it’ll operate off of solar-powered batteries. But Nail said the other, which will continue to operate off of in-line electrical power once it’s repaired, may be placed in the city’s 2021 budget for a future conversion to solar battery power as well.

In all, the city will have to spend approximately $14,000 to repair and replace the sirens in the coming weeks, with the bulk of insurance coverage — $26,000 — going to fund the overall $39,350 cost of the new unit. After paying out the $1,000 deductible, insurance will also fund the $12,820 repair work on the other siren.