MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis-Shelby County Schools is still silent after WREG asked them why the safe room, a place the community is supposed to be able to go during severe weather, apparently wasn’t open during last week’s once-in-a-generation storms.
Questions continue to swirl around the Tornado Safe Room behind Belle Forrest Community School in Hickory Hill.
MSCS isn’t talking, but WREG Investigators have been digging for answers.
Shelby County Emergency Management told us they keep a list of safe rooms available to the community.
While they don’t manage them, they do work with the owners to make sure that when they activate, they have supplies.
In a county just shy of a million people, Shelby County had just one Safe Room ready for residents during the storm, located in Arlington.
Arlington’s Mayor Mike Weissman told WREG they opened the shelter once they got wind of what was coming.
“A lot of times we don’t have a lot of warning when the shelter, you know, as a storm may pop up real quick and the alarms go off,” said Wissman. “You know, nobody has a heads up. This weather event had been talked about for, you know, over a week, so it gave us all a lot of time to think about things.”
Arlington is miles away from Hickory Hill, and the Belle Forrest School shelter, right in the middle of a neighborhood.
Citizens just feet from the school had to go to Arlington to seek safety, but there are guidelines for shelters to follow when they get federal money.
“FEMA provided most of the funding for it,” Weissman said. “And so yes, we do have to abide by their guidelines.”
Guidelines include having an Operations and Maintenance Plan that is reviewed and updated regularly to make sure the safe room opens.
Arlington received federal money, too and has been using its shelter.
“It’s either fire department or staff can open it, or we actually have remote locks that we can open up,” said Weissman. “In the case of if all hands are on deck with another emergency, the remote locks can open it up and still allow the safe room to be utilized.”
But no one can tell WREG of the Belle Forrest shelter’s operational plan, even though the shelter got close to $2 million from FEMA for the $5 million building.
We asked school board president Joyce Coleman, who was at the grand opening of the facility.
“The safe house will serve for parents and family members in case of a tornado or a natural disaster in this community. They will have a safe place to go,” Joyce Coleman said.
She said she is not sure if it has been used or who is supposed to make sure it is opened, but she said she would find out and let WREG know.
The Shelby County Emergency Management Agency released the following statement:
“In light of the recent storms last week, we’re reviewing a lot of our activities to capture strengths, opportunities for improvement, and lessons learned.”
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency has a list of shelters on their website, but they rely on local emergency management officials to tell them where they are located.