Four years after applying for a federal hazard mitigation grant to build a community storm shelter in Elkmont, the funds arrived this week.
The Limestone County Emergency Management Agency applied for the funds following Hurricane Gustav in 2008 and the tornadoes that hit Marshall and DeKalb counties in 2010. The grant is on the County Commission’s Monday agenda for approval.
Daphne Ellison, communications officer for the EMA, said the location of the community safe room would be the Elkmont Volunteer Fire Department on Sandlin Road. The project will be built using $110,453 in federal funds and $36,818 in matching county funds.
The shelter must accommodate 168 people, Ellison said, and must be built to FEMA standards. She said it could be at least three months before any work begins on the project because it will first go through the design phase, and those designs will have to be approved by federal officials. Once those hurdles are cleared, she said, the project could then be let for bid.
The Elkmont location was chosen because there is not a community shelter there and county officials would like to see a shelter in each of the four county districts and in the city limits of Athens.
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