The National Weather Service’s “new way” of issuing watches and warnings may have had residents confused as sirens went off throughout Covington County Wednesday, signaling a tornado warning was in effect, said County EMA director Susan Harris.

Harris said residents may have noticed that the NWS now issues warnings for specific areas during inclement weather.

“For instance, a tornado warning was issued for the northern part of the county Wednesday morning, and then one was issued for the south end, instead of for the whole county,” she said. “The way (Covington County’s) procedures are set is that any time the county is under a warning, we sound all 21 sirens in the county.

“We had people confused about that, but that’s just the way we do things,” she said.