Video: Winston County Opens New Storm Shelter

NANIH WAIYA, Miss. (WCBI) -With a brand new storm shelter in place, Winston County wants the community to know it’s open for business.

“Much better to be too soon than too late.”

That was the plea Winston County EMA Director Buddy King made today with the county’s new shelter.

Nanih Waiya High School’s brand new cafeteria will double as the community’s storm shelter…. It’s the first of it’s kind.

And it’s receiving statewide attention…

“The county, the city, and the school district really did a fantastic job of using their imagination to see what they could do to protect the population, but when there isn’t a storm, how could they best utilize the facility and so building a cafeteria…I just wish more communities would do what Nanih Waiya has done.”

It was a 2 million dollar project but…

“1.2 million of that came from the federal government. There’s a great return investment for the communities to try and go in and use their imagination, just because the federal government will come in and pay the cost difference between building just a regular building and a safe room so it’s a great investment.”

Mississippi’s First Lady Deborah Bryant was here when the last deadly tornado hit…

“We had just come through Starkville and was almost to Louisville when they said ‘you need to get off the road, there’s a big one coming your way.’ And so we did just that. We ended up in the courthouse with everyone else, and it was a pretty devastating event.”

She saw firsthand how much good a storm shelter can do…

“We were working in a neighborhood that was devastated and you would see just a block standing out in the middle of all the devastation, and it would be a safe room.”

The shelter will be open during any and all storms the county faces and can house close to 650 people.

And King says to not hesitate when coming to the shelter even if school is in session…

“Go ahead and get here, bring things that will make you comfortable, that you may need: your medicine, your water, a snack and plan on staying throughout the duration of the storm. Because usually those are short lived events, less than four hours and you’ll be perfectly comfortable here.”

“When a storm does occur, this is 648 less souls that I have to be concerned with protecting and providing for. They will be sheltered in this building and this building will withstand the worst storms the state of Mississippi’s ever had.”

King tells us county officials are partnering with Mississippi State in research as to why the Winston County area is prone to so many tornadoes and they are eagerly awaiting the results.