Eight public shelters have been built in Morgan County and another is in the final stages of construction after one of the worst tornado outbreaks in U.S. history hit central and north Alabama.
Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long said the shelters are a significant safety net for residents.
“It’s good to have a shelter you can get 100 or more people in,” he said. “They’re a lot safer.”
The fifth anniversary of the outbreak that killed 234 Alabamians, including 14 in Lawrence County and four in Limestone County, is Wednesday. Morgan County had plenty of damage but no deaths.
Morgan County Emergency Management Agency Director Eddie Hicks said the only public storm shelter he could think of in Decatur is the basement of the Morgan County Courthouse. The EMA’s website also lists Decatur City Hall’s basement as a shelter.
When asked why there are not more public shelters in a city of about 56,000 people, Mayor Don Kyle answered, “That’s a good question.”
“I don’t know if there’s been any alarm raised about adding storm shelters,” he said.
Kyle said the city seems to be in a location that has been spared tornado destruction. He said he can’t recall any injuries or deaths in Decatur caused by a tornado.
The 2011 tornadoes destroyed Independence Tube in Northwest Decatur, but the employees gathered in cement-block rooms in the plant’s interior to avoid injury.
A major tornado hit Decatur on March 22, 1952, but did most of its damage in Madison County.
The planned new Decatur and Austin high schools will have designated safe areas for students and faculty, but won’t be considered public shelters, said Lee Edminson, project manager for the school construction.
“I doubt if we would kick anybody out,” Edminson said, when asked if a resident seeking shelter would be allowed in the new schools’ safe area.
No existing city schools have been renovated to create a safe area since the 2011 tornado outbreak, Edminson said.
The normal procedure is for students to go in a hall and sit against the wall, he said.
Hartselle High School is listed on the Morgan County EMA website with three shelter areas with a total capacity of 1,902 people.
An addition at Falkville High School includes a safe area with a capacity of 750 people that also is open to the public, Morgan County District 3 Commissioner Don Stisher said.
Community shelters have been installed in Oak Ridge, Mud Tavern, Neel, Somerville, Punkin Center, Danville, Brindlee Mountain and Eva in the past few years, Long and Stisher said.
A double shelter in Eva is expected to be completed in a few weeks.
Grants available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency have paid for all of the shelters except the Somerville shelter. District 2 Commissioner Randy Vest spent $47,845 from his district budget to build the shelter.
“After the storms that day, grants became available for fire departments and towns to apply for,” Stisher said. “I believe everyone who applied for a grant got one.”
Each shelter has a capacity of 96 people and cost nearly $50,000. The double shelter in Eva will hold 196 people and cost $84,795. The commissioners use district crews to prepare the shelter sites for construction.
The new shelters are important additions in the rural areas, according to Hicks.
“If you’re in a house that’s potentially going to be destroyed, it’s a big deal,” he said.
Stisher said a resident who installs a shelter at his home can provide the GPS coordinates to his local fire department, and firefighters will check on the resident’s condition after a severe storm.
“I think we’re safer in a lot of ways,” Stisher said, when asked about developments in the past five years. “Our media is better in getting the word out quicker. I think we’re better prepared today.”
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