Clemson University students on Tuesday experienced a first that they likely would have rather avoided.

For the first time, a relatively new text-messaging and/or e-mail alert system was used to alert students to a tornado. Also new was a voice module attached to a years-old siren system.

While the tornado missed a direct hit on campus, trees were felled, a light pole was taken down, four cars were damaged, and damage was reported at Clemson’s T. Ed Garrison Arena. No injuries were reported. The tornado was one of several sighted in the area as a result of remnants of Tropical Storm Fay.

“I think it went well,” Clemson University Police Chief Johnson Link said of the alert system use. “We’re getting some calls that there were some delayed responses, but only a handful, about 10. And we sent a lot of messages out. We sent them out three times – maybe 3,000 to 4,000 text messages plus all the e-mail messages. Some of (the delay) could turn out to be a server issue.”

Students can sign up to have alerts sent to their cell phones by text messages, or sent to their computers by e-mails. But, as a backup, old-fashioned sirens still sound across the campus. Because the sirens also sound if lightning is detected within six miles of campus – due to Hartwell Lake and the many athletic fields – a voice module tells students why the siren is sounding. Some students said they didn’t pay attention to the voice message with the sirens and thought it was lightning. Link said he sent out an e-mail today explaining the system again.

“But we want them to focus on the sirens,” he said.