Pawnee Schools' New Domed Storm Shelter Ready For Use

Pawnee students trade in a dangerous old basement for a state-of-the art storm shelter that will double as an indoor playground to keep kids out of the elements.<br/>

Thursday, October 2nd 2014, 5:53 pm

By: Tess Maune

Pawnee Schools' New Domed Storm Shelter Ready For Use

A new storm shelter built in Pawnee is ready to keep students safe from severe weather year-round.

An old basement is where Pawnee Elementary students were coming during severe weather. The school was built in the 1920s and the superintendent says after the Moore tornado, he realized it could have been a death trap.

Dark storm clouds now look less scary these days for Pawnee students, but it was just a drill that had students filing in to the district's new storm shelter on Thursday.

“We've been having our drills in it and our kids really like it,” Pawnee Superintendent of Schools Ned Williams said.

4/1/2014 Related Story:Builders Say Pawnee Domed Tornado Shelter 'Tornado Proof'

Williams says the new shelter's dome design will send air around the shelter rather than pushing the building over.

“Nothing is absolute,” Williams said. “I suppose an earthquake or something could get us, but this is as close to being near-absolute protection as we can get.”

With 9 inches of concrete -- reinforced by steel -- the builder says the dome is strong enough to withstand an EF-5 tornado; something that couldn't be said of the old elementary school basement.

“Probably everything above that basement would fall on them,” Williams said.

Pawnee fourth-grade teacher Kari Nelson added: “Yes, it is very scary down there.”

There's nothing to be scared of in the new shelter. In fact, on days when the sun's not shining, the dome will double as a playground.

“They can use it when it's snowing, raining, ice on the ground,” Williams said. “They can also use it when the temperature gets above 100.”

And although the shelter sits next to the elementary school, it's close enough to Pawnee's other schools that it will help keep all the district's students safe in severe weather.

“We are very excited because it's gonna be nice to have a safe place for our children to go and know that they're going to be safe,” Nelson said.

To add to peace of mind when school's not in session, the safe room doors will be open to all of Pawnee.

The builder still has to work on the acoustics to help alleviate the echo. Once that's fixed, there will be an open house for the public.