Federal dollars will pay for a series of underground storm shelters in Pettis County.

It was the deadly tornadoes of 2006 that started the process to build these shelters. The tornadoes on March 12th and 30th killed two people in Pettis County. A disaster declaration after the storms started the ball rolling to bring in the money.

Helicoptor pilot Richard Windsor of the Staff for Life works in La Monte and like many residents in Pettis County, has nowhere safe to go during severe weather.

"Right now we don't have any storm shelter at all," Windsor explained. "The only place we can go is the school, which is better than what we have here.  But I don't think it would stand a direct hit."

This was the case for many residents during the 2006 tornadoes, which damaged many homes and left some with nowhere to go. The county commission saw a need for storm shelters and is addressing it by building a shelter here in La Monte, right next to the city municipal building.

The 5,000 square foot structure will hold up to a thousand people, and is one of three shelters to be opened in Pettis County this year.

"The funding has been available to construct eight of them, and we've tried to place those in population densities so we can cover as much of the population as possible that doesn't have a safe place to go during a storm," says the presiding County Commissioner Rusty Kahrs.

The strategic locations will also make for short travel time during a storm.

"It's within commuting distance--I would guess in a straight line--3 blocks in a straight line from downtown, so they could even walk and wouldn't have to drive," Richard Windsor says.

Crews will build the shelters within FEMA guidelines, at an average cost of $300,000.

The county commissioners expect FEMA to approve the remaining two shelters for this year in the next couple of weeks. Which means there should be three shelters total in the county by the end of the year.