Mississippi Town Building Storm Shelter

The town of Merigold, Miss., is building a storm shelter that will have a capacity of 800-900 people and will be completed by December.

Mayor Andrew Westerfield tells The Bolivar Commercial that the shelter will be not only for local citizens but also anyone that can reach it in time.

The shelter is located next to Hayes Cooper Center, an elementary school.

Westerfield says there are plans to place sirens throughout the county to warn citizens to take cover sooner.

Construction began work about two months ago.

The storm shelter will be a freestanding building with 8-inch thick concrete tilt up panels.

Chris Collins of Roy Collins Construction says the panels are built to withstand over 250 mile an hour winds.