Can Missouri Schools Withstand a Severe Storm?

Buildings in the St. Joseph, Mo., School District can withstand winds up to 90 mph.

None are prepared to withstand the likes of an EF5 tornado, with winds of more than 200 mph, which devastated parts of Oklahoma City and its surrounding area in the last few weeks.

Not even the new schools being built at Carden Park and at Bishop and Cook roads can withstand such high winds, school officials and local architects said.

“Nothing can withstand an EF5 tornado, and we hope that never happens,” said Ronald Fuston, project manager for the new schools’ construction.

The building code that’s been around for more than 100 years requires structures being built to be able to withstand 90 mph winds. But the new schools have logistical and material advantages that make them relatively safe structures.

“At Carden Park, half the school is below grade,” Fuston said. “The big advantage to the northeast school is that the exterior walls are 14 inches thick and a lot of it is concrete.”

The concrete is imbedded with steel support, which makes it much safer than home construction, he added.

The tornadoes in Oklahoma City, which destroyed two elementary schools and killed several children, have many people concerned about the safety of schools in extreme weather. This has schools re-examining their safety measures and exploring the possible need for storm shelters.

But storm shelters are expensive and there’s limited State Emergency Management Association (SEMA) funding available for such structures, said Jeffrey Ellison with Ellison-Auxier Architects, the firm that designed the northeast school.

“The unfortunate part about the tornado shelters – at least with SEMA – is there’s no money to be able to do that. A lot of districts are wanting to do it, but are just not able to right now,” Ellison said.

But there is talk that SEMA could soon make some funding available for storm shelters, perhaps even funding up to 75 percent of the costs.

“That’s just a crystal ball. Nobody knows,” he said.

Sara Markt with River Bluff Architects, which designed the Carden Park school, said the topography of the site, with a good portion of the structure built into the hillside, enhances its sheltering capacity. Much of the structure will sit inside a bluff.

“The best alternative we can really offer, given the funding issues you run into with storm shelters, is we try to take advantage of the topography we have and create space we can use,” she said.

Rick Hartigan, chief operating officer for the school district, said they haven’t experienced anything over 70 mph straight-line winds. Even at that, the structures haven’t sustained much damage.

“We’ve got a hundred years’ worth of history here with our buildings, and we’ve never had so much as straight-line wind damage to any point, any capacity,” Hartigan said.

He added there is mixed opinion as to whether St. Joseph is in a tornado alley. Some say that alley is farther south, and others say we’re right in the middle of a tornado alley, which stretches to Iowa.

Julie Adolphson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the area is not immune to tornado activity. The topography and the river have no bearing on whether a tornado will hit. But it is rare for the area to experience the high tornado winds experienced in Oklahoma, or in Alabama in 2007, she said.

“The fact that St. Joseph schools have not been destroyed by a tornado, like we’ve seen in Moore and Enterprise, Ala., doesn’t mean it can’t happen,” she said, adding that every school district should have a plan of action in case of extreme weather.

The St. Joseph district has a unique plan for each of its buildings, said Beery Johnson, assistant director of transportation and safety. Every school has designated spots like a gymnasium, a locker room, hallways and other safe areas to go to in case of severe storms. The students also have regular tornado drills.

“We practice that numerous times during the school year,” he added.

Topics Catastrophe Windstorm Oklahoma Missouri