Community Storm Shelter

All businesses open their doors to welcome in the Christmas Holiday, The Chamber will have a silent auction at the Storm Shelter and Santa Clause will come to the City Square that evening.

The City of Ralls is very fortunate to have a project of this caliber and is a project very significant to Ralls. Not only will it be a community storm shelter but also a community center year round for the citizens of Ralls. It will have a large common room, kitchen, restrooms and drop down televisions for citizens to watch. The shelter will also house an Emergency Command Center that will be very important storing city maps, radio equipment and can be used as a base incase of a disaster.

The project was developed as result of the 2005 tornadic storms that consequently fell on the 30 year Anniversary date of when the City of Lubbock was destroyed. By the Grace of God was the city of Ralls spared. The tornado missed Ralls by a quarter of mile, veering off to the south at our city limit signs.

During this time City leaders realized the responsibility we have to saving our citizens lives. The City Council eagerly approved application to apply for a grant through FEMA to build the Shelter. The city developed a great relationship with South Plains Association of Governments and the application process began. The grant was awarded by the Governors Division of Emergency Management and FEMA in 2006.

Adling and Associates was chosen as the architect to design the community storm shelter. They recently refaced the Texas Tech campus and designed the Ralls Storm Shelter to fit into the Ralls downtown architecture. The shelter has similar features to the Ralls Museum and will compliment the Emma Church of Christ and other buildings downtown. The shelter was designed to be a large open room and has a dual purpose to be a community center and storm shelter.

The Storm Shelter was funded through a FEMA grant. Ralls will be receiving $475,000 to build the shelter. The City has currently chosen Brown Mc Key as contractor to build the structure for $455,000.

The entire project including grant administration, site surveys, and architecture/engineering is estimated to cost $565,000. The City of Ralls would like to thank the citizens of Ralls who donate $1.00 on their water bills. The special projects fund over a few years has collected $45,000 and will be spent toward this project. The City Council insures that the special projects fund will be spent for the good of all citizens and have projects that make a significant impact on the community.

To enhance the storm shelter the city has applied for the Downtown Restoration Grant to build and rebuild city sidewalks. The Texas Capital Fund awarded the grant to Ralls in 2006. We are proud to announce that we were #1 on their funding list. The Downtown grant will build sidewalks around the storm shelter building; add street lighting, and two driveway entrances on the south side of the building onto Tilford Avenue. The sidewalk project is estimated value of $204,000. The city will tear out the sidewalks and curbs adding an in-kind match/value of $39,000 (we save by doing ourselves). The actual cash match is $12,000 to pay for the engineering services.

This project will strictly replace sidewalk and curb. It will not be as elaborate as the past downtown project using brick work. The project will also replace sidewalks and add ADA ramps in front of Mullins Plumbing, The Senior Citizen Center, The Edge, Grizzle Building, Bowling Building, Ralls inn, Baptist Youth Center, Dr. Dunn Office, and Estella’s Restaurant.

Along with emergency preparedness Ralls is also planning on applying for a USDA grant to receive a 45kw generator for the storm shelter. The cost to the city is a 25% grant match estimated at $5500.00. The total cost of the generator and instillation is estimated at $22,000.

Send mail to rhett@cityofralls.org with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2004 The City of Ralls Last modified: 10/10/08

Send mail to rhett@cityofralls.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2004 The City of Ralls
Last modified: 10/10/08