Tornado damage at the Breckenridge Village shopping center in Little Rock on March 31, 2023
After a powerful tornado hit Little Rock on March 31, Pulaski County Title resumed business within a couple of days, because owner Billy Roehrenbeck had put its server in a secured room that protected it from the 160-mph winds.
As Little Rock recovers from the tornado that destroyed at least 2,000 structures, builders and engineers are reviving a long discussion about whether there should be regulations requiring safe rooms or shelters in residential and commercial properties.
“We are hearing more and more about it because of the tornado that came through here a couple of weeks ago,” said Associated Builders & Contractors of Arkansas President Bill Roachell.
Companies often install disaster-proof spaces to protect data centers and other equipment, but the construction and engineering sectors are divided over whether to build more severe weather safe rooms.
“We have all this highly valuable data that we feel is worth saving,” Ian Babcock, a structural engineer with the North Little Rock engineering firm Garver, said. “Why are we not tornado-proofing buildings to protect lives?”
Affordability is the main concern. Safe rooms cost tens of thousands of dollars or more. “I don’t think the building industry is doing it from a greed standpoint; it is just not affordable,” Babcock said.
There’s also the perception that tornadoes are unpredictable, leveling some structures but leaving others undamaged. Requiring every building to have a shelter might not be practical.
“That is always the argument,” Babcock said. “There is a small chance that this is going to happen, so we are penalizing all of these buildings effectively by increasing their costs and making them less affordable.”
In 2022, there were 1,329 reported tornadoes in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Tornadoes killed 23 people in 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported. The toll from tornadoes in 2023 has already surpassed last year’s with about 70 fatalities, the Center for Disaster Philanthropy reported.
There are signs that the engineering and construction industries are considering more precautions.
The International Code Council, which states and cities turn to when setting building codes, has added more guidelines for the design of storm shelters.
Arkansas requires certain buildings, like schools, to have steel-reinforced concrete safe rooms, but there are no other code requirements for shelters.
Last year, the American Society of Civil Engineers included for the first time a chapter about tornado wind loads in one of its publications.
“It was controversial enough that 50% of the people on the committee voted against including a chapter on tornado design,” Babcock said.
“I am not convinced, myself, that we know enough and that tornadoes are predictable enough and frequent enough that we need to require every building to have some sort of tornado shelter or safe room,” he said.
Safe rooms can provide “near-absolute protection” from tornadoes, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Demand for shelters appears to be increasing in Arkansas. Joe Hilliard, an engineer with Cromwell Architects Engineers of Little Rock, said the firm is receiving more requests for shelters for industrial projects. “What we have done for one client is turn one of their conference rooms into a shelter,” Hilliard said.
Ron Harris, a builder with Summerwood Inc. of North Little Rock, said he is considering whether shelters should be included with his new Village of Maumelle retirement community.
“Do you just maintain current standards and do nothing and hope next time it isn’t as bad or something? I don’t know,” he said.
“As a council member, looking at building codes, it has never come up,” said Harris, who is also a North Little Rock City Council member. “There’s more worry about the extra expense of putting fire sprinklers in a home than … storm shelters. It may be too early for the question. I don’t know.”
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