Ozark storm shelter gets remote locks after it didn’t open during tornado warning

OZARK, Mo. – A storm in late April caught Ozark city leaders off guard and no one unlocked the storm shelter at the Ozark Community Center (OC) as neighbors stood outside waiting.

“There was a lot of praying going on that night because we stood there waiting for somebody and nobody ever showed up,” said Patricia Parsley.

Months later, the city has upgraded the storm shelter with new remote access locks to keep this from happening again.

If there is a tornado watch or warning, any city official can get on an app on their phone and unlock the doors, hopefully no longer leaving anyone out in the rain.

“Those doors will always be open,” said Parks Director for Ozark Hayden Ponsar.

A tornado warning popped up in Ozark on April 29, 2024, with no watch issued beforehand.

The OC was supposed to be unlocked by staff or the police department but that never happened, as police were tied up responding to a crash.

“How are we not prepared for an emergency situation?” questioned Ozark resident Jared Robbins. “And the fact that they’ve come out with something now that will allow for a lot of us to be able to get access to it if we need it, I think that’s a really great idea.”

There are now more bright yellow signs pointing to where the storm shelter is, solar lighting on the signs so they’re brighter and security cameras.

“Those are located both inside and outside of the facility to ensure that something like what happened in late April never happens again,” Ponsar said.

“I think that is wonderful,” Parsley said. “They should have had that start with that.”

Parsley was one of the people stuck outside in the storm in April.

“That siren going off like crazy,” Parsley said. “And women holding children and babies. And it was just awful. It was scary. Very scary. I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared before.”

Since that night, she’s been driving a few extra miles to go to OTC’s storm shelter. She says there are a few more changes she would like to see at the community center.

“The only reason I won’t go there because it is closer to my house but that hill, I can’t get up and down,” Parsley said. “I can go down. But I can’t get back up.”

The storm shelter upgrades were part of a larger security upgrade for the OC that cost $10,000.

“I think that is tax dollars well spent, because anything that can improve, improve our community and improve community safety, I’m all for it,” Robbins said.

The project was actually in the works before the storm in April, city officials say that incident highlighted the need for these new remote locks.

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