Parents with children at Charlotte’s Web Preschool and Nursery take comfort in the fact that the school offers a tornado shelter, especially when extreme weather moves across the county like Thursday afternoon’s tornado warning.
According to Monti Millay, daycare director, the shelter was a well thought out plan when the school was built four years ago.
“Parents are surprised we have it,” Millay said. “As far as we know we’re the only daycare in Owensboro that has a shelter like this.”
The shelter, large enough to hold the entire school of students and staff, is approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). With a ceiling and walls made of concrete and steel, the room can withstand an F-4 tornado, Millay said. The three doors to the room are held with hinges that span the length of the frame rather than the traditional three hinges of normal doors.
According to Millay, the room also serves as a safe place in case of outside intrusion.
“When the owners built the daycare, this room was built first and the building was attached to it,” Millay said, emphasizing the importance of the room, which cost owners Charlotte and Curtis Drake an extra $20,000 to include in their school.
In the four years the daycare has been operating, the room has been used many times, specifically during weather with damaging winds and tornadic activity. Most recently, 122 children and 29 staff members spent nearly two hours in the shelter when tornado warnings sounded across Daviess County Thursday.
“The kids were all laying down sleeping when the weather hit,” Millay said. “We woke them all up and took them in the shelter. They weren’t too happy with us.”
But with plenty of activities available for the little minds, Millay said the school rode out the storm without any problems.
“The room is a tremendous comfort for parents,” Millay said. “They don’t have to worry about their kids during severe weather.”
