Kansas School District Builds Tornado-Resistant Facility

A southwest Kansas school district has a new multipurpose building designed to resist the power of tornadoes.

The Fowler district said the building is a tornado-resistant monolithic dome. The steel-reinforced, concrete building will house a computer lab, band room, gym and locker rooms — and serve as a community disaster shelter.

Fowler is located about 50 miles southwest of Greensburg — the Kansas town that was flattened on May 4, 2007, by an EF5 tornado that killed 13 people.

Fowler voters approved a $1.94 million bond issue in 2008 to fund the dome’s construction. The project also received a $345,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.