Scott City School District to build safe room

The powerful tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., last week left scenes of devastation and sorrow in its wake. More than 1,200 homes were reported as damaged or destroyed, and the monetary damage caused by the tornado is estimated to be at least $2 billion.

The death toll from the tornado was 24 people, seven of whom were students at the destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore. A nearby school, Briarwood Elementary, was equally damaged although no students died. Neither school had "safe rooms," which are designed to protect students against an EF5 tornado, the kind that barreled through Oklahoma on May 20.

Since 2004, 58 facilities classified as safe rooms by the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been built in Missouri public school districts and community colleges, with 86 safe-room projects in progress, according to the most recent information available from the agency.

The Scott City School District is building a safe room to protect students in the event of a tornado.

"It will be nice to have a safe place for students after what we saw in Oklahoma," said Scott City superintendent Diane Ulmer.

The safe room will be an 8,000-square-foot visual and performing-arts center that will be built on the west side of the Scott City school building, Ulmer said. The new facility will contain steel-reinforced, 1-foot-thick concrete walls that can withstand the winds of an EF5 tornado, or up to 250 mph.

"The project will cost $1.5 million," she said. "The facility can hold about 1,275 people, and it will be open to the community if there's a tornado after school hours."

Ulmer said FEMA entered into a cost-sharing agreement with the school district to build the safe room, and is providing 75 percent of funding through its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, so long as the facility meets emergency-shelter specifications set by the agency.

"The district applied for the grant in 2010," she said. "The grant was given preliminary approval in 2012, and we're waiting for FEMA to give final approval to our building plans. When we get that, we can begin construction."

Ulmer said the projected completion date for the safe room is summer 2014.

In the Cape Girardeau School District, there are no facilities designated by FEMA as a safe room. Neil Glass, assistant superintendent, said the district had considered having the newly built Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall serve as a safe room at Cape Central High School, but the idea faded.

"The performance hall was too big of a box to turn into a safe room," Glass said. "It would've required a lot more by way of material and financial resources to match FEMA specifications."

Glass said that during a tornado warning, students are led into interior classrooms and bathrooms where there are cinder block walls. At Central Middle School, Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School and some elementary schools, basements can be used to further protect students.

"We don't have students crouching in hallways anymore during a tornado warning," he said. "A lot of evidence has shown that hallways can act as a wind tunnel during a tornado, which is exactly what we don't want."

As for building FEMA-approved safe rooms in the future, Glass said he has met with engineers and has discussed potential sites for the rooms.

"There's no timetable," he said. "Building something like safe rooms takes time and a lot of planning. Unfortunately, it will also require a lot of financial resources."

The Jackson School District also is without a designated safe room in any of its buildings.

"We have none scheduled as of now," said Wade Bartels, chief financial officer and security coordinator for the school district. "But we take a look at our buildings every year to make sure they're adequate in case of emergency."

During a tornado warning, Bartels said the safest places for students are always interior rooms. Gyms, cafeterias and rooms with a lot of windows are to be avoided.

"No safety plan can cover every single emergency," Bartels said, "but we take our safety issues very seriously. We're always looking at ways to improve the safety of our students."

Jackson won't totally be without a structure that qualifies as safe room, however. Work will begin in early 2014 on the Jackson Community Center, a $5 million project that includes $1.8 million from FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The community center will qualify as a safe room because it meets emergency-shelter specifications as defined by the agency.

"We've always felt that it was a big plus for the building to be reinforced against strong tornadoes," said Steve Elefson, president of the Southeast Missouri Medical Center, the group overseeing construction of the community center. "I feel great about having something like that in the community."

Area Missouri school districts that have completed safe-room projects include Poplar Bluff, Malden, East Carter County and Van Buren. Districts awaiting final approval from FEMA for their projects include Bloomfield, Puxico, Fredericktown, Delta and East Prairie.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

301 N. Clark Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

614 E. Adams St., Jackson, Mo.

3000 Main St., Scott City, Mo.