MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When storms move through, residents are often told to go to storm shelters in their community to stay safe.

However, during the recent string of storms around the Mid-South, one shelter that neighbors expected to be open wasn’t.

A gray building directly behind Belle Forrest Community School in Hickory Hill is more than just the school gymnasium.

It’s also a dedicated safe shelter in the time of storms.

City leaders said as much two years ago when there was plenty of fanfare at its grand opening.

“The facility will house 2,000 people in the event of a tornado or a natural disaster,” Schevonda Hunt said back in 2023.

But during what has been called a “once-in-a-generation” series of storms that hit the Mid-South this past week, the shelter apparently wasn’t open for the community.

“They should have had it open,” one neighbor said. “You never know when we gonna get hit.”

Another concerned neighbor told WREG that he went to the shelter on Saturday during the severe weather and saw it was closed.

He called it troubling, especially since the school system, the county and the federal government dedicated the money to build it.

“This started about five and a half years ago, a vision by Ms. Hunt. She came before the board and asked for funds to help fund a safe haven/ gym for Belle Forrest Community School,” said Joyce Dorse Coleman, the MSCS Board Chair in 2023. “And with resources from us, from FEMA and from the county Mayor [Lee] Harris’ office, we were able to fund it and this is the end result.”

WREG began asking if the building had ever been used as a storm shelter for the community, since that’s one of the things neighbors thought it was for.

“It was supposed to be a gym and a tornado shelter. That is what they said when they built it,” a neighbor said. “I talked to the head man over the project and he even told me that.”

The Office of Emergency Management said they were aware of the shelter but told us we need to speak to MSCS before they weigh in.

The Fire Department also referred us to the school system, since the shelter is on their property.

WREG reached out to MSCS to try to set up an interview. They said they are working on it and are still awaiting information from several departments.

For neighbors who are literally steps away from the shelter, it raises a lot of questions.

“Why build it if you ain’t gonna use it,” a neighbor asked.

That’s one of many questions that we are digging for answers to.

WREG is also reaching out to FEMA about the shelter since they provided 75 percent of the funding.