VINEMONT — The Vinemont storm shelters were opened this weekend when severe weather came into town, but the weather was not severe enough to use them.
“It provides people with a safe place to go during severe weather because there are not a lot of places to go in the Vinemont area,” said Mike Graves, the town’s public works official and the fire chief.
The storm shelter can hold 86 people sitting and up to 110 standing. Graves is glad the town has something where people can be safe during storms.
“It is designed to stand up to F5 tornadoes,” Graves said. “It will be open whenever we go under a tornado watch.”
Mayor Melba Patton is extremely glad to have the shelters.
“I am so pleased that we have these,” she said. “We have trailers in our town and I think it will help them tremendously.”
The town received a 75/25 federal matching grant for $98,000, for two storm shelters. One is located behind the Vinemont Fire Station and another is located at the Providence Fire Station.
South Vinemont is the first town in the county to get one of these storm shelters.
“We would like to thank the mayor and council of South Vinemont and to all those who assisted in working on the shelter, like the county EMA office and the Cullman County Commission,” Graves said.
The shelter is a one room shelter which is handicap accessible and has a restroom facility.
The shelters are set and anchored to a reinforced, monolithic concrete pad foundation. They feature three heavy duty locks on the inside of the doors and a separate keyed lock on the outside for security purposes. The powered ventilation provides 15 cubic feet of fresh air per person per minute per FEMA requirements.
Safe-T-Shelter, Aqua Marine Enterprises, INC, of Danville, AL, built the structure.
‰ Tiffany Green can be reached by e-mail at tgreen@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 221.
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