View the entire article here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/04/18/2302095/tornadoes-carve-out-wild-week.html

QUIVIRA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Tiffany Vincent came to Kansas to burn prairie grass. But much of this week shes been taking a chain saw to huge trees.

Sometimes tornadoes happen, said Vincent, an Iowa Conservation Corps member working at the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

Her six-person crew spent much of Saturday night in a cramped, above-ground shelter as two tornadoes cut paths up to a half-mile wide through the refuge.

It kind of puts the wild into (a) wildlife refuge, deputy refuge manager Steve Karel said of dealing with storm damage.

Its thought to be the first significant tornado damage in the refuges 50-plus-year history.

Karel and David Farmer, a wildlife refuge specialist, said many roads through the refuges 22,000 acres were impassable Sunday morning because of downed power lines and/or fallen trees.

Some signs were destroyed, as were several windmills and lots of barbed-wire fencing. On a Monday airboat survey, Karel found sizable debris in one of the marshes. A large livestock feed bunk, from who knows where, sits in a field.

And while the refuges lone bald eagle nest is intact in a mighty cottonwood, Farmer said the staff fears its valuable contents may have been killed.

Lately only one adult bald eagle has been seen at the nest. Last week there were two that often showed behavior that indicated they were feeding young.

Farmer said staff members arent optimistic of any hatchling survival.

Though the tornado damage is obvious and widespread, Karel said things could have been much worse….

To read the rest of this article and see pictures please go to http://www.kansas.com/2012/04/18/2302095/tornadoes-carve-out-wild-week.html

Photo Taken By Ken Leu Publisher THE HARPER ADVOCATE

We build shelters 4’ x 4’ to 100’ x 100’, for occupancy of one person to several hundred
people. All components used in our shelters have been tested at Texas Tech Wind
Science and Debris testing and have passed impact testing for F5 or winds in excess
of 250 mph. Shelters are designed using stamped engineered drawings that insure
the safety of the users. We construct shelters both on site and at our yard for customers!

[Show as slideshow]

Many Corporations are installing tornado shelters for their employees. In the past employees were Instructed to just leave the plant, get in their cars (one of the worst place’s to go in the event of a tornado) and find safety. Problem is employees usually do not come back to work. (which means loss of work time and no production). When you have a safe place for your employees to go…….the siren will sound, employee walks to shelter knowing they have a plan and peace of mind they are headed to a safe place. After the all clear they walk back to plant office and go back to work.

[Show as slideshow]

Building was insulated, HVAC, battery backup lighting, 2 Doors meeting FEMA standards. Both doors handicap accessible painted to match existing building. New 5’ concrete walk poured around shelter for ease of access. Interior was insulated , sheet rocked and painted to make room very appealing to users. Room when complete can be a multipurpose meeting room. The more events that use this room make the room more affordable and less cost than just a tornado shelter. This was a 25 x 25 tornado shelter.

[Show as slideshow]

Bathroom was roughed in (piping only) for sewer, water, drain, only and all piping stubbed through floor and exterior wall for future finishing. Electrical was exposed conduit with strip lighting and ninety minute battery backup system. The walls 8″ thick poured with 4000 PSI concrete and reinforced steel on 12” centers each. The roof double matted reinforced steel, 18″ thick poured with 4000 PSI concrete. Doors-two in number outswing per code, hinges, hardware and frames bear certification that product has passed testing for FEMA specifications used in a Group storm shelter. All components used were tested to withstand EF5 tornados and winds in excess of 250 mph. This Shelter was painted company colors of royal blue and white to match existing structures.

[Show as slideshow]

Joplin students to be sheltered by new structures designed to withstand 250-mph winds

JOPLIN, MO.—Aug. 16, 2011— When the 7,743 students in Joplin, Mo., head back to school tomorrow, they will have a safe place to seek shelter if another storm strikes. Thirty-one concrete and steel tornado shelters made to withstand winds in excess of 250 miles per hour have been installed in Joplin by Protection Shelters, LLC, of Wichita, Kan.
The EF5 tornado that hit Joplin May 22 killed 160 people and injured more than 900 others, devastating much of the city with winds exceeding 200 miles per hour. Thousands of students in Joplin lost their homes, and seven students and one school district secretary were killed in the massive twister, which struck on a Sunday afternoon.
The tornado also destroyed or damaged 10 Joplin School District buildings, including the district’s only high school. Temporary schools have been set up at four sites, with six other campuses repurposed. Some of those facilities, like the temporary high school for 11th and 12rh graders set up in a former Shopko in Joplin’s Northpark Mall, do not have facilities to shelter students in case of severe weather. Now if another storm threatens during a school day, those students will be protected by these above-ground, handicap-accessible tornado shelters that feature 8-inch-thick walls and weigh approximately 70,000 pounds each.
“I’m proud that we can give these students a safe place to go if another storm strikes,” said Dale Zogelman, president of Protection Shelters. “Being a Kansas company, we know tornadoes. Inside one of our shelters is the safest place to be in one of these killer storms.”
Zogelman’s company had only 41 days to complete and deliver the impervious structures, each of which required approximately 62,000 pounds of concrete and nearly two miles of steel. The 10-foot by 20-foot structures were built in Wichita, moved with a 100-ton crane, and transported to Joplin on massive tractor-trailers.
“We worked around the clock for 41 days, sometimes in 110-degree heat,” Zogelman said. “But it was worth it to be able to deliver some peace of mind to these young people who have been so traumatized by severe weather. If you’ve ever been in a storm like that, you never forget it—and, you worry that it might happen again.”
The doors and designs of these tornado shelters are tested in a laboratory at Texas Tech University, where they must withstand 250-mile-an-hour winds and debris shot into the shelter at 250 miles per hour. The shelters meet or exceed specifications published by both the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Storm Shelter Association.
The shelters built for Joplin schools were part of a $27 million mission assignment funded by FEMA and managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
About Protection Shelters, LLC
Protection Shelters, LLC, is a specialized construction company in Wichita, Kan., that produces a broad range of tornado shelters designed to withstand the worst Mother Nature has to offer. Protection Shelters constructs shelters for large group needs as well as for private homes. These impervious structures are tested to withstand winds and debris in excess of 250 miles per hour and to meet or exceed all industry standards. The company also is a member of The National Storm Shelter Association (NSSA). For more information, see www.protectionshelters.com.

Contact us for a free quote.

Concrete shelters can be built from 6 x 6 to 60 x 60, or even larger depending on your needs. Price on request. Complete our inquiry form for a custom quote.

NEW! Also view one of our latest projects, the Chapman Housing Authority Shelter

[Show as slideshow]