![]() ![]() Parker’s company built the Delaware Duplex Community off south 20th street. “It just seemed like that was where the project should start, and you would almost build everything around it,” Kevin Parker, President of Parker Development, said. ![]() “You do see them, many more than there used to be,” Dahle-Melsaether said.įor some rebuilding without a shelter was unthinkable. However, a lot of residents chose to install them to feel safer. The 41 Action News I-Team learned the city doesn’t require storm shelters or basements. We have a port-a-potty, we have an emergency radio,” Dahle-Melsaether said, pointing to the items in his shelter. It’s a safe haven submerged in the backyard and stocked with essentials. The couple moved to Joplin last November, and they found a home with a storm shelter. Kayla Smith said their safe room is big enough that they’ve been able to squeeze in the neighbors, their kids, and both families’ pets.The Dills have yet to take shelter in their safe room, and they’re OK with that.“My husband says it’s the one wedding gift we really hope we never have to use,” Amanda Dills said.Giovanni Garcia/41 Action News Darren Dahle-Melsaether says it's a "good feeling" to have somewhere to go when severe weather hits. ![]() It holds up to eight, though she described its shape “like a phone booth on its side.”Joplin has been spared another tornado, but there have been plenty of severe storms. “We ended up pretty much getting the whole thing paid for.”Their safe room cost more than $3,000. “That was the one thing my family was a bit concerned about,” Amanda Dills, 35, said. Blake Dills already had a house in Oklahoma City, but it didn’t have a basement. ![]() They already have the things you would traditionally register for.”Even with advancements in storm forecasting that often provide plenty of warning for impending tornadoes, some people simply have no place to go.Before they wed in October 2013, Blake and Amanda Dills put a request for safe room donations on their Knot bridal registry. “We’re seeing that couples are getting married a little later in life and more times than not they’re living together. “It doesn’t surprise me that this is something couples would be doing,” Cooper said of safe rooms. WATCH: Unique wedding gift ideasĤ:52 Unique wedding gift ideas for all budgets But those lists increasingly have their quirks, said Kristen Maxwell Cooper, executive editor of The Knot, a leading wedding website. “It was really just our main necessity, something to keep us safe,” Kayla Smith, 29, said.Sometimes, relatives of the newlyweds buy the rooms to make sure the young couple is safe out on their own, according to John Hunter, co-owner of Atlas Safe Rooms in Joplin.“I know of a guy who asked a father to marry the daughter, and the father said, ‘Not unless you have a safe room,'” Hunter said.Kitchen gadgets, bedding supplies and home decorations are still the most popular items on bridal registries. READ MORE: ‘I can’t even tell you how many we’ve seen’: Alberta storm chaser following tornadoes in KansasAs their wedding approached in 2013, they asked for safe room donations as wedding gifts, eventually building a $5,200 safe room in their garage. Ricky took shelter in his apartment stairwell. Kayla was with her parents in a car that was spun off the road into a yard. A few are buried in the yard like shelters of years past.The Smiths weren’t yet married when the tornado came through Joplin. Safe rooms typically cost $3,000 to $7,000, depending on the size. Most are small and built in a garage or closet. They are windowless with no light fixtures or electricity. Safe room sales skyrocketed, aided in part by the availability of Federal Emergency Management Agency grant and rebate programs that help pay for them in some states.The pre-fabricated rooms feature thick steel walls and doors that can withstand winds up to 250 mph. The devastation raised awareness about the need for safety in homes that don’t have basements. 2:22 Oklahoma hit hard as tornadoes touch down in several states ![]()
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