Storm shelter to be dedicated 5 years after deadly east Alabama tornado

LEE COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) – Work on a new storm shelter in east Alabama is complete, nearly five years after a deadly tornado hit the area. The shelter in the Beauregard community will be dedicated this weekend.

It was 2019 when a deadly EF4 tornado hit the small community in Lee County, claiming 23 lives.

“At the time in 2019 there wasn’t anything like this to provide that safety for the community,” said Ben Wilson of the Community Foundation of East Alabama, which helped raise the money needed for the shelter.

“The community foundation committed about $45,000 to make sure this project could be built,” Wilson expressed.

The shelter may look small, but it can have a huge impact in rural communities like Beauregard. It holds upwards of 30 people, and it also provides peace of mind for a community that is still healing from the storm five years later.

Pastor Rusty Sowell vividly remembers that fateful March day.

“I looked out my front yard and saw a dark cloud coming across it,” Sowell explained. “Coming out, it was just an eerie silence, then you hear the sirens and you hear people crying and calling out for help.”

Sowell’s church, Providence Baptist Church, became a center for relief supplies in the storm’s aftermath. He also helped in the planning for the shelter.

The shelter will be dedicated Sunday, March 3, to the 23 people who lost their lives. The dedication will be at Beauregard Fire Station No. 4, located at 14656 SR-51.

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