Tornado protectionKansas, Missouri invest in tornado safe-rooms

Published 4 August 2014

Last year’s tornado season prompted officials in Kansas and Missouri to invest heavily in safe rooms to shelter residents from future severe weather events. Schools tend to be popular choices for safe rooms, but new funding from FEMA is helping cities build safe rooms in other public spaces. The safe rooms are built to withstand tornado winds of up to 250 mph, and can survive being hit by a 67 mph projectile vertically or 100 mph horizontally.

Last year’s tornado season prompted officials in Kansas and Missouri to invest heavily in safe rooms to shelter residents from future severe weather events. The Garrison Community Center in Kansas City will construct a safe room this summer, funded in part by grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The 1,300 occupancy safe room will be built to withstand the highest-rated tornadoes, said Bob Lawler, project manager of Kansas City Parks & Recreation Department.

Emily Dunavent, vice president of the American Tornado Shelter Association and director of development for Atlas Safe Rooms, a Joplin-based safe room installer, has seen a rise in safe room inquiries from cities and businesses.

Last week officials in Crocker, Missouri opened a new school cafeteria that doubles as a safe room, built to withstand tornado winds of up to 250 mph, and can survive being hit by a 67 mph projectile vertically or 100 mph horizontally. “If you read the sign outside, it is hundreds of miles per hour wind this building could take from a direct hit by a tornado… if you look at the steel beams, the concrete, it is unreal,” Crocker R-II School Board head Kris York said. “In Joplin, 116 people lost their lives because they had no place to go.” The cafeteria was built with $776,000 of FEMA funds

The Kansas City Star notes that schools tend to be popular choices for safe rooms, but new funding from FEMA is helping cities build safe rooms in other public spaces. In Johnson County, the juvenile detention center and two Public Works administration buildings have received FEMA grants to build safe rooms. FEMA has agreed to provide 75 percent of the funds needed to build safe rooms for public use, but the rooms must meet a number of requirements including having a back-up generator, bathrooms, and thick concrete walls.