Storm Shelter

FAIR GROVE, Mo -- Elections are just around the corner. Several local school districts are putting bond issues on the ballot. Storm shelters are a top priority for many of the schools.    "With the economy as it is, with school funding as it is, we're down over the last four years a little over a million dollars," said Fair Grove Superintendent Dr. John Link. Now the Fair Grove School District is reaching out to the community for help--in the tune of $2 million. "One of the big areas that we feel like over the last four or five years, because of the funding crunch, we've kind of let go is technology," said Dr. Link.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo -- School was out when the Joplin tornado hit and graduation just ended. Had classes been in session, the loss of life and destruction would've been mind-boggling. The school had no shelter on campus. The Joplin School District was approached about constructing a safe room before the storm. They decided not to pursue it. However, other school districts in the Ozarks are moving forward with safe rooms, and a lot more are hoping to build them in the future. "Since the tornado in May. Our phone has been ringing nonstop.

FAIR GROVE, Mo. -- Students and staff have vivid memories of the day the roof was torn off Fair Grove school.  Now, more than three years later, they're breaking ground on a storm shelter. In a classroom just off a middle school hallway is where Matt Campanelli took shelter.  "I remember sitting there with my friends, and were just all joking, having a good time," Campanelli said. His 8th grade year was about to come to an abrupt end.  "Then I remember teachers yelling, telling us to get down, get down!"

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Some big changes are coming for students of Westport Elementary and Study Middle Schools in Springfield. Students of both will soon attend class in one building, and Westport Elementary is undergoing a renovation to handle its new responsibility. Voters approved the school bond in 2009 and the construction at Westport has been going on for roughly two years. The reason for combining the schools: declining enrollment at Westport, just a kindergarten through fifth-grade school, and Study Middle School, which serves sixth through eighth-graders.

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo  -  One year ago tomorrow; an E-F-3 tornado tore through more than 150 homes at Fort Leonard Wood. Construction of 160 new homes started in September and should be completed next summer. "If you can picture duplex style buildings out here; families running around; happy as could be," says Jason Hughes with Balfour Beatty Construction. He can already picture the completion of 160 new units at Fort Leonard Wood. "And you can see here; a finished pad," says Hughes.

FORSYTH, Mo. - In April, voters in Forsyth will decide on a bond to fund a 9,000-square foot addition to the city's high school. The new facility would double as a performing arts center and a storm shelter. The bond would be expected to generate $4 million. Some of that proposed money would also go toward security upgrades and possibly new playground equipment. School officials say taxes would not increase if the bond passes.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- In 2009, the work to put tornado safe rooms in Springfield School District buildings seemed important.  Today, it feels essential, and staff are pleased they started planning when they did. "[It took] a lot of studying and work to get these on deck and to get them to come to fruition, but I think thatJoplin reassured us that it's the right thing to do for our community.  We need to make these decisions as a district, and I think we're moving in the right direction," said Facilities Director David Bishop.

CHRISTIAN CO., Mo. --Maybe you are one of many in the Ozarks who have seen the pictures from Joplin and now say they'll take tornado warnings more seriously. You know to get underground or to the most interior room of your home, but if you're without a basement or want to ride it out in a safer building, find your safe space in your city. There may be a storm shelter at your job, or public shelters in your community, like in Christian County. OTC's Richwood Valley Campus has a concrete reinforced tornado shelter behind it's classroom building, strong enough to withstand an EF-5.

JOPLIN, Mo.-- One year after a deadly tornado struck on May 22, 2011, a family from Joplin is still working through the grief of losing little Skyular Logsdon, only 16 months old and one of the youngest of the 161 victims. Skyular's family was caught in the storm that day-- thrown two blocks from their home. "The next thing I know, I'm looking up and our roof's gone. And I can see a car way up there, just going around and around and around and that was it," recalls Skyular's grandmother Robin Logsdon.

JOPLIN, Mo.-- Springfield's Convoy of Hope is going down a new avenue to help Joplin's tornado victims. The relief agency is helping building houses for families who lost their nest eggs and pensions in last summer's awful storm. The home that was in Jackie Allen's family for forty years is only a memory.  "The house was right here," says Allen.  It's the place she and 9 year old Dylan called home, and where Jackie and her brother took cover.  "We thought we'd make it to my brother's house just a few blocks away, with a storm shelter, but we looked outside and said it was too late.  We just grabbed the pillows and ran to the bathtub and we rode it out. It was a frantic half-hour before Allen learned nine year old Dylan rode out the storm safely with his dad in his car.  "That was the hardest part; we couldn't get ahold of anybody," Allen says.

Storm Shelters save lives, but many people don't have them because they are simply too expensive. After witnessing the damage from the Joplin tornado, Russel Gehrke made it his mission to provide storm shelters to Joplin tornado survivors that can't afford one on their own. Gehrke said, “I noticed the playground at burger king was still standing and that was kind of like…huh.   And then I noticed another playground standing at the Catholic church. It got me thinking that the plastic used in the playgrounds that withstood the tornado, we could make a concrete form out of recycled plastics and build storm shelters that are more cost effective.” Testing storm shelters in an expensive endeavor.  The typical test costs about $3,500.  So, in order to cut down on those costs to test his new materials, Russel invented "The Shredder".  "The Shredder" is a glorified pitching machine that is powered by a motorcycle and can throw pipes and 2x4s at about 200 ft/sec.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Some big changes are coming for students of Westport Elementary and Study Middle Schools in Springfield. Students of both will soon attend class in one building, and Westport Elementary is undergoing a renovation to handle its new responsibility. Voters approved the school bond in 2009 and the construction at Westport has been going on for roughly two years. The reason for combining the schools: declining enrollment at Westport, just a kindergarten through fifth-grade school, and Study Middle School, which serves sixth through eighth-graders.

FORSYTH, Mo. - In April, voters in Forsyth will decide on a bond to fund a 9,000-square foot addition to the city's high school. The new facility would double as a performing arts center and a storm shelter. The bond would be expected to generate $4 million. Some of that proposed money would also go toward security upgrades and possibly new playground equipment. School officials say taxes would not increase if the bond passes.

FAIR GROVE, Mo. -- Students and staff have vivid memories of the day the roof was torn off Fair Grove school.  Now, more than three years later, they're breaking ground on a storm shelter. In a classroom just off a middle school hallway is where Matt Campanelli took shelter.  "I remember sitting there with my friends, and were just all joking, having a good time," Campanelli said. His 8th grade year was about to come to an abrupt end.  "Then I remember teachers yelling, telling us to get down, get down!"

JOPLIN, Mo.-- One year after a deadly tornado struck on May 22, 2011, a family from Joplin is still working through the grief of losing little Skyular Logsdon, only 16 months old and one of the youngest of the 161 victims. Skyular's family was caught in the storm that day-- thrown two blocks from their home. "The next thing I know, I'm looking up and our roof's gone. And I can see a car way up there, just going around and around and around and that was it," recalls Skyular's grandmother Robin Logsdon.

FAIR GROVE, Mo -- Elections are just around the corner. Several local school districts are putting bond issues on the ballot. Storm shelters are a top priority for many of the schools.    "With the economy as it is, with school funding as it is, we're down over the last four years a little over a million dollars," said Fair Grove Superintendent Dr. John Link. Now the Fair Grove School District is reaching out to the community for help--in the tune of $2 million. "One of the big areas that we feel like over the last four or five years, because of the funding crunch, we've kind of let go is technology," said Dr. Link.

JOPLIN, Mo.-- Springfield's Convoy of Hope is going down a new avenue to help Joplin's tornado victims. The relief agency is helping building houses for families who lost their nest eggs and pensions in last summer's awful storm. The home that was in Jackie Allen's family for forty years is only a memory.  "The house was right here," says Allen.  It's the place she and 9 year old Dylan called home, and where Jackie and her brother took cover.  "We thought we'd make it to my brother's house just a few blocks away, with a storm shelter, but we looked outside and said it was too late.  We just grabbed the pillows and ran to the bathtub and we rode it out. It was a frantic half-hour before Allen learned nine year old Dylan rode out the storm safely with his dad in his car.  "That was the hardest part; we couldn't get ahold of anybody," Allen says.

CARTHAGE, Mo.-- Joplin's nearest neighbor is making noise about the need for state of the art tornado warnings.  In Carthage, where they're working to replace storm sirens, some that are about sixty years old.  No one was prepared to see the Joplin tornado's massive destruction.  162 people died.  In neighboring Carthage and all over southwest Missouri, people will definitely be taking sirens seriously. "As our city's grown, we've just not been able to keep up with the coverage of the storm sirens," says Carthage Fire Chief Chris Thompson.

Fort Leonard Wood, Mo  -  One year ago tomorrow; an E-F-3 tornado tore through more than 150 homes at Fort Leonard Wood. Construction of 160 new homes started in September and should be completed next summer. "If you can picture duplex style buildings out here; families running around; happy as could be," says Jason Hughes with Balfour Beatty Construction. He can already picture the completion of 160 new units at Fort Leonard Wood. "And you can see here; a finished pad," says Hughes.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo -- School was out when the Joplin tornado hit and graduation just ended. Had classes been in session, the loss of life and destruction would've been mind-boggling. The school had no shelter on campus. The Joplin School District was approached about constructing a safe room before the storm. They decided not to pursue it. However, other school districts in the Ozarks are moving forward with safe rooms, and a lot more are hoping to build them in the future. "Since the tornado in May. Our phone has been ringing nonstop.