Schools, towns prepared for potential bad weather

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May 7, 2009

By Tiffany Green The Cullman Times Thu May 07, 2009, 01:08 PM CDT

“I don’t like this,” said seven-year-old Bailie Vaughn, as she covered her head during Wednesday morning’s tornado warning.

Diane Law, secretary at East Elementary School said all children remained safe during the storms.

“We have a safety plan in place that we go by,” she said. “Each class is assigned a specific area so they know where to go and what to do.”

Law said the school has a tornado drill every three months to prepare for cases like Wednesday’s storms.

“We used to use the hallways, but we had someone from the EMA come in and suggest safer areas where the children could go,” she said. “It is actually better than the hallways. All the areas are interior areas of the school.”

She said the teachers did a good job of keeping the children calm.

Severe weather blew through Cullman Wednesday morning, leading to city and county schools dismissing at 1 p.m. and the cancellation of after school events.

South Vinemont’s new storm shelter was used for the first time since its opening last week. Mayor Melba Patton said at least 20 people used the shelter during the storms.

“We had about 20 people and an infant in the shelter,” she said.

Patton is glad to have the shelter for the safety of her community. Vinemont now has two tornado shelters, one at the main Vinemont fire station and another one at the Providence fire station.

“We are sorry to have such bad weather but glad to have the accommodations for our citizens,” she said.

Patton said after driving around the community, she did not see any damage.

Jose and Nayre Albarran were waiting for the severe weather to pass with their mother and baby sister.

They were happy to have the safety of the shelter.

“We heard the sirens and came,” 8-year-old Nayre said.

“We like having it,” 9-year-old Jose said. “My mom picked us up at school and brought us here.”

Joanne Jones, Good Hope town clerk said the storm shelter at the town hall is always open when the weather is bad.

“We make sure it is unlocked when bad weather is pending,” she said. “There were several cars there this morning and I’m sure some were using the storm shelter.”

Baileyton mayor Johnny Dyar said storms got bad in the area, but he has not had any reports of damage.

“It got pretty rough out here with the winds and rain, but we haven’t found any damage yet,” he said.

‰ Tiffany Green can be reached by e-mail at tgreen@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 221.

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Schools, towns prepared for potential bad weather

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