MOUNDVILLE, Ala. (WIAT) -- A storm shelter in Moundville is expected to open within the next couple days following a storm that produced a tornado early Sunday morning.
Moundville, a town in Hale County, is about 18 miles south of the University of Alabama. An EF-1 tornado touched down about 25 miles south of Moundville on Sunday.
While a tornado did not reach Moundville, the city incurred damage. Some residents were without power. A roof was completely ripped off one building, large trees were snapped in half, and debris could still be found scattered through the area Tuesday.
“The storm that came in the other day was not an EF-4, EF-5 the other day, [but] it could have been,” Charles Watkins said.
Watkins grew up in Moundville. His home is less than two miles away from Moundville Elementary School, the site of a storm shelter.
The shelter was built three months ago after the county received a congressional grant from U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell last year, the county’s emergency management agency said.
The shelter, however, was not open on Saturday.
“The main concern is the storm shelters in Moundville area are not completed,” Watkins said.
“There are procedural things that have to be done,” said Moundville Public Works Superintendent Daniel Fowler. “I wish it was as easy as just building one and opening the doors the next day.”
Because the storm shelter was placed next to Moundville Elementary School, the city has waited on Spire to finish its gas line and other utility companies to complete tasks the city cannot do.
“This has a generator for backup power," Fowler said. "If you have 90 people in this, you have to have ventilation, and they had to completely run a new gas line to do that."
The shelter also does not have an internal lock at the moment, another item Moundville is waiting on.
“There was no way to lock the door if there was a tornado coming,” said Hale County EMA Director Russell Weeden. “So it really wasn’t safe to let people in it before it’s certified by the state.”
That’s another event that must happen before people can go in: state certification. Weeden expects that part to be finalized Wednesday or Thursday.
“We’re moving forward. We're not taking a step back," Fowler said. "We’re going to have hiccups, and that’s OK."
There are zero storm shelters in Moundville. When storms came through late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, people went to the town's fire station to seek shelter. The fire station, however, is not a designated storm shelter.
“If the tornado were to hit the fire station -- it’s not a storm shelter -- so you can’t advertise it as a storm shelter,” Weeden said. “It’s really a liability issue.”
But Moundville residents will soon have two designated storm shelters they can go to, the EMA director said.
“The one at Jackson Chapel and the one in Moundville should be certified this week to open up,” Weeden said.
Looking ahead, there are two more storm shelters expected to come to Moundville near the ballpark. Those are funded through a Hazard Mitigation Grant that Hale County received in 2022.
“I drove all the way around, and there’s no dirt even turned over, unless it’s another ball field I’m not aware of,” Watkins said.
Watkins, like some other Moundville residents, expressed frustration that it’s been nearly three years, and he’s only heard talks about storm shelters.
“The general population needs some answers,” Watkins said. “We’ve got people that need a place to go during the storm.”
Even though the county received money to build, the EMA director said they are a lot of parties involved and boxes that have to be checked off before building can begin.
“They say when you get these grants, it’s going to take about three to four years to get them in and open them,” Weeden said.
The state’s EMA went to Moundville on Monday to review the site for the storm shelters at the ballpark. It’s a big step moving forward, Weeden said.