Oklahoma does offer a storm shelter rebate program, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "They don't have to register it through the state or anything, unless it's funded by a grant program." "We don't have a listing of the community shelters," Cain says. There also is no database that Oklahomans can consult, showing where public or wheelchair-accessible shelters are located. "Community shelters are funded on their own, either through bond issues or other funding methods," she says.
If a community wants to open a local storm shelter for the public, that's up to local officials, Cain explains. "It's the safest place that you can be during a storm."
Texas underground storm shelters install#
"If you're able to install a safe room in your home, or on your property, we recommend that you do that," says Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. According to the 2018 National Climate Assessment, many of these weather-related hazards are expected to become worse and more frequent because of climate change. "Instead it's 'Well, just duck your head and go in your house.'"ĭata collected and analyzed by the Center for Public Integrity found that between 20, Oklahoma had the highest number of major disaster declarations in the country: They ranged from severe storms, floods and fires, to ice storms and tornadoes. Why aren't they helping to protect us?" he says. High now thinks the federal or state government needs to step in and help people with disabilities acquire their own storm shelters. There was no mandate that they keep them open. Local towns started closing public shelters in Oklahoma a few years ago, to avoid the costs of making them tornado-safe. "What bill am I going to not pay, to try to save up $3,800? I live day to day. High relies on federal disability payments for his income, and says he simply can't afford to pay for his own shelter. Shots - Health News Why Disability And Poverty Still Go Hand In Hand 25 Years After Landmark Law Effectively, that change in policy left Oklahomans like High to fend for themselves. It would take just four minutes for him to roll down a ramp, travel along the sidewalk, and get inside the school gym.īut access to most places that have served as public shelters in the past, including that gym, ended a few years ago, after fire officials and others argued that the public shelters weren't up to federal standards. From his driveway, High can see the elementary school just down the street. High chose this rental house in 2008 because of its proximity to a public school that was an officially-designated public shelter. He gestures toward the walls: "I've got a window in every room of this house, so there's really no place for me to go."
"One person told me 'put on a football helmet and go into your kitchen,' " High recalls with a bitter smile. The base model, found in some backyards in Oklahoma, is an underground concrete box, like this one. The most common tornado shelters have steep stairs, making them inaccessible to people with ambulatory disabilities.
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