Storm Cellar Protects Mountain View Family from Feb. 5 Tornado
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Release Number: 1744-027
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- For Donnie Fletcher and his family, the nightmare began the evening of Feb. 5 when storm clouds gathered and swirled for a fierce assault on the small town of Mountain View in Stone County.
On that day, Fletcher says he began to grow worried when he heard the tornado warnings on the television. When sirens began to sound, family members from four households headed for the storm cellar Fletcher had built a few yards from his home. His oldest daughter and her family came from 10 miles away, arriving just before the tornado struck.
By the time Fletcher shut the door about 6 that night, 12 of them - including his wife, their children, their grandchildren and in-laws- were sheltered in the 12' by 8' storm cellar.
"You could hear it coming over the mountain," Fletcher recalls. "It was snapping off the trees."
The shelter door shuddered and banged as debris and rocks smashed against it. Then came silence. Fletcher's son-in-law opened the door and looked where his home had been about 300 yards away. "It's gone," he reported to his father-in-law. "Then he looked back behind the shelter where Fletcher's 3,000-square-foot home had stood. "It's gone, too," he told Fletcher.
The powerful tornado took a terrible toll, destroying all nine homes on Shipman Drive. But Fletcher and his family survived without injury. "I do believe that the storm cellar saved our lives because my house was completely destroyed."
His neighbors, too, came to understand the value of a safe shelter. Fletcher says after the tornado passed, six neighbors - terrified that another twister might come -- climbed from the rubble of their homes and squeezed into his storm cellar.
Fletcher says his wife had urged him to build a storm shelter, either inside or outside, after they had completed construction of their home on Shipman Drive 15 months ago. A mason by trade, he chose an outdoor site on the slope near his home. It would be a subterranean room beneath a new workshop.
Construction of the cinder-block and concrete storm cellar began last Labor Day weekend. Fletcher finished it less than three weeks before the Feb. 5 tornado tore through his neighborhood.
Now, he is in the process of applying for a special reimbursement offered by the state of Arkansas for residents who build safe rooms or storm shelters. As an incentive, the state provides $1,000 if the resident spends at least $2,000 on the tornado shelter. Fletcher says his cost was about $3,000.
Having witnessed the destructive power of a tornado, says Fletcher, his neighbors may well invest in their own shelters. "I do believe that storm cellar sales and church attendance will be up for a while," he says.
FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 27-Feb-2008 08:23:54