Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen fields reporters' questions amid the remains of tornado damage Wednesday in Lafayette, Tenn. At least 59 people were killed Tuesday and Wednesday across five southern states. Authorities and residents are wondering what could be done differently next time.

Lafayette, Tenn. ? After the deadliest wave of tornadoes to hit the South in more than two decades, dazed authorities and residents are wondering what could be done differently next time.

There will be new interest in tornado sirens in places like Macon County, which has none and suffered 14 deaths, and consideration of other changes there and elsewhere across tornado-prone areas of the South. Officials cite strong storm awareness and disaster drills with helping Union University, in Jackson, Tenn., avoid loss of life as tornadoes roared through last week.

Sirens and long advance times in warnings that were repeatedly broadcast also helped prevent higher losses of life – the total as of Friday was 59 – from the powerful set of storms that included a ground-hugging tornado that roared across northern Tennessee with wind estimated at 125 to 150 mph. That twister was blamed for 24 of the deaths.

The most effective preparation for the next storm could be a healthy dose of fear triggered by lingering images of this month’s disaster.

“A lot of it is just members of the public taking seriously that it can happen,” said Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who toured stricken areas. “You get a little more convinced each one you see.”

The tornado’s awesome destruction drew gawkers Saturday, complicating the recovery and salvaging efforts of residents and officials in rural Macon County.

“There’s an awful lot of spectators, that’s for sure,” said Joe Jones, a contractor from nearby Franklin, Ky., who was waiting to fix the windows blown out of a Lafayette home. “People are running 10 to 15 mph around town, and they’ve got plates from all over.”

Gawkers who interfere with cleanup and recovery efforts could be arrested, said Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt. “We’re asking people to use common sense,” he said.

Michael Chertoff, U.S. Homeland Security director, said the preparation and response was evident in Jackson, in western Tennessee, hit repeatedly by tornadoes in the past decade, including one that killed 10 people in the area in 2003.

Debate over tornado sirens often follows destruction in communities that don’t have them.

Florida officials, after tornadoes a year ago this month killed 21 people across central parts of the state, considered sirens but questioned how effective they would be, especially with the cost. Instead, they preferred weather radios that residents could buy with tax breaks.

In rural Allen County, Ky., where four people died last week, Bobby Young, the county judge-executive, doubted sirens would have made a major difference because the storm was so fast, loud and powerful. Macon County Mayor Shelvy Linville felt the same way about the lack of sirens here.

“I don’t really think it would have mattered,” he said.

Sirens have come up after past tornadoes, he said, and likely will again as the county faces what he says is its worst disaster. In the past, the cost – about $20,000 each with installation – and questions about the practicality in a largely rural area with a spread-out population of about 23,000 and limited financial resources have shot down the subject.

After deadly tornadoes in the state in 2006, Bredesen said sirens could have a boy-who-cried-wolf effect in areas that frequently experience storm warnings – some areas of the South are dubbed “tornado alleys.”

“When was the last time you heard a car alarm going off and you said ‘Oh my God, there’s someone breaking into a car?'” the governor said then.

After touring here last week, he said: “When you look at the intensity of the storm up in Macon County, for example, I don’t know what you do to prepare for that unless you dig a hole in the backyard to get into. Those houses were just scraped down to their foundations.”