City official working to get storm shelters in West Lowndes

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Flash Flood, Thunderstorms, or even tornadoes.

Weather in Mississippi can be unpredictable and you never know what will strike.

The Lowndes County Board of supervisors wants to make sure that all parts of the county have a safe place to go during severe weather.

“My plan is a plan that is badly needed through the western part of Lowndes County there’s a lack of safe rooms/ storm shelters,” said Smith.

Many people in southern and western Lowndes County don’t have a safe place to go when severe weather hits.

District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith thinks it’s *past* time for the County to do something about the issue.

“You have an area that is at least 70% mobile homes, manufactured homes that are not safe during weather events like tornadoes or hurricanes, and there’s nowhere for people to seek shelter during those times of bad weather,” said Smith.

The County’s only public shelters are in New Hope, Caledonia, and East Columbus. That’s too far for many residents across the river to get to safety when the weather turns severe.

Smith says the West Lowndes area deserves at least one community shelter.

“The mere fact that we have no shelters suggests that we have a concern that we need to take seriously. we have a school, a number of businesses and residents that live in that area of western Lowndes county, and during times of severe weather we have no shelter for those people and so that’s the concern that I have,” said Smith.

Smith says that safety should be a consideration in all new construction.

“It makes sense if you build a new facility that they have the capacity to service a safe area for residents that live in that community,” said Smith.

Smith says that he has taken action and he has personally written to MEMA to try to get this project started. He is urging others to follow his lead.

“I ask that the citizens get on board and encourage their elected officials so they can also draft letters encouraging MEMA to approve our application for a safe room in Lowndes county,” said Smith.

Smith says that there will be a meeting Tuesday, May 10th at 6 o’clock at the Crawford Community center to talk about this more.