Video: Local EMA Directors Talk Storm Shelters

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Columbus, Miss. (WCBI) — There are no community storm shelters in Lowndes County, said Emergency Management Director Cindy Lawrence.

While Lawrence said that there are individually owned storm shelters throughout the county, the area she directs has not received funding for storm relief since 2005, for Hurricane Katrina.

“…we have applied for grants for community shelters and of course we were denied…”, said Lawrence, “…the only funding we received was for tornado sirens.”

When it comes to storm shelters, it is as much about the cost as it is the need, said Winston County EMA Director Buddy King.

“It’s hard to justify the funding for a building that is only being used during those extreme times of weather…”, explained King, “…you may have a tornado this year, you may not.”

“If you don’t have a tornado or a threat, you’re not going to use these buildings”, said King.

Winston County has been declared a national disaster area three times in the past decade, most recently the tornado of April 2014.

King said because of those disastrous storms, the county was selected to receive two Hazard Mitigation Grant Programs. That federal funding helped the county on storm shelters that will be built near the Nanih Waiya Attendance Center on Highway 379 and the other near Louisville and Fair Elementary.

King said the county applied for the Nanih Waiya shelter before the 2014 tornadoes, and the storms drew attention to the area and “validate that we need storm shelters here in Winston County.”

King also said the process behind receiving grants is extremely competitive, more specifically describing it as a “battle”.

Along with sending in applications for storm shelters, King said the support of the state and local governments are just as important, especially when dealing with public funds.

“While you’re busy buying fire trucks, and police cars, and paying for police officers…”, King said, “…it’s difficult to come up with and identify that funding for these very specialized needs…”

That is why King said counties are moving towards retrofitting multipurpose buildings like gymnasiums, fire stations, and city buildings to meet the requirements necessary for a storm shelter.

“If we can incorporate those design features that make that building safe during a tornado, while it can still be used daily as a recreational facility or educational facility, the more the better for the community”, said King.

While King said turning multipurpose building into storm shelters would be a better investment for taxpayers, he said the cost to retrofit the buildings is similar to what it would cost to build a shelter from the ground up.

Louisville Municipal School District Superintendent Ken McMullan said the county is “blessed” to have many levels of city, county, and state government help bring the shelters to the area.

“I think that will provide a lot of peace and mind for our citizens and our student if we’re able to give them those shelters in the event of bad weather”, said McMullan.

McMullan said the groundbreaking for the Nanih Waiya storm shelter will be “any day now” and said the area is looking to build shelters near Eiland Middle School and Noxapater Attendance Center, which would raise the total number of shelters to four.

King also said they have entered the competition stage for three new projects that have been discussed with the school board.

City leaders expect the Nanih Waiya storm shelter to be complete by late Fall of 2016, and hope the break ground on the Louisville shelter by next year.

There are currently no available storm shelters in Winston County.

As for Lowndes County, Lawrence recommends residents to buy individual storm shelters if they can. She also believed a negative to having a community storm shelter is the fact that “when…the tornado sirens are activated, I would not want a person to leave where they are to try and get to the shelter because they may not make it there in time. There is no way to give an exact timing of when a tornado will be in your area.”