Tornado shelter information for Joplin area
If you are ever caught in a severe-weather situation and wonder where you can go for shelter if a tornado is incoming, there are several places around Joplin to take cover.
In fact, there are 13 FEMA shelters in place around the community that are all accessible to the public.
“They are at every elementary school except for Dover Elementary,” Joplin Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Matt Harding said. “We currently have the safe room at West Central (Elementary), so we technically have 10. Then we have one at Duenweg Education Center, one at Joplin High School and one at Junge Stadium.”
The 10 elementary schools that hold shelters are Cecil Floyd Elementary at 2201 W 24th St, Columbia Elementary at 610 W F St, Eastmorland Elementary at 1131 Highview Ave, Irving Elementary at 2901 S McClelland, Jefferson Elementary at 130 McKinley, Kelsey Norman Elementary at 1323 E 28th St, McKinley Elementary at S Forest Ave, Royal Heights Elementary at 2100 Rolla St, Soaring Heights Elementary at 4604 E 20th St, Stapleton Elementary at 101 E 41st St, West Central Elementary at 101 W 7th St also has a safe room.
The other three locations are at Joplin High School at 2104 Indiana Ave, Junge Field at 800 Junge Blvd and Joplin Early Childhood at 202 Malloy Circle in Duenweg.
When are the shelters open? That’s a good question, and one that many people have. The answer—when tornadic weather is in the area.
“If the tornado sirens are sounding in the City of Joplin, we will manually open all of the shelters,” Harding said. “If there is a tornado warning in Jasper County, the tornado shelters will automatically open. If there is a storm coming, and there is a high-potential of creating a tornado in that storm, we will open (the shelters) then.”
And just in case the shelters/safe rooms do not unlock when they should, there are measures in place to make sure they get open for the people who need them.
“If they don’t unlock, every safe room has a supervisor assigned to it,” Harding said. “Which is usually someone in the neighborhood nearby. They have all been issued keys. So if the safe room does not unlock, when the supervisor gets there, the supervisor can manually unlock it.”