Tornado shelters available for 24-hour care facilities

(From City of Joplin)

The City of Joplin acquired 16 temporary tornado shelters, from the State of Missouri through Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These shelters were part of the housing assistance program for residents affected by the 2011 disaster, and were located across from the Joplin Regional Airport. The City of Joplin proposed a plan to FEMA and the State of Missouri several months ago to make these shelters available based on a priority list. The priority list is shown below and will be available to these categories within the City of Joplin and the City of Duquesne through an application process. These shelters are rated for a capacity of 32-34 people. Therefore, these shelters are for commercial use, rather than residential use.

• Local and County Governmental Entities
• Mobile Home Parks
• Facilities providing 24-hour care for at-risk populations (i.e. nursing homes, group homes for elderly or developmentally disabled, etc.)
• Facilities providing less than 24-hour care for higher risk populations (i.e. daycares, preschools, schools, etc.)
• Other Non-Residential Facilities

The City of Joplin established a process to take applications for the tornado shelters one category at a time for a period of 30 days from entities within Joplin and the City of Duquesne. If there are fewer applications than shelters in a category, those entities will be granted the shelter.

The City will then accept applications for the remaining tornado shelters in the next category for a period of 30 days. At the point where applications exceed the number of remaining shelters, a drawing will be used to determine which entities will receive the remaining shelters. If there are shelters remaining after all categories are exhausted within Joplin and Duquesne, the City will offer the shelters based on the same priority list to entities outside the City of Joplin. Due to the limited number of shelters, the City can’t guarantee that more than one shelter per applicant will be awarded.

The City is now accepting applications for Facilities providing 24-hour care or less than 24-hour care for at-risk population (i.e. nursing homes, group homes for elderly or developmentally disabled, daycares, etc.) inside Joplin and Duquesne. The deadline is December 23rd at 5:00 p.m. These shelters are rated for a capacity of 32-34 people.

The applicant will be responsible to pay and move the shelter from the current location at the airport site to its final destination, as well as for all installation costs. The City has estimated that it will cost approximately $9,000 per shelter to move and install. However, this is an estimate and the costs could be different, depending on circumstances.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Leslie Haase, Finance Director at 624-0820 ext. 251.