Tornado safe room on track to open on time

    GRUNDY CENTER — When Grundy Center fifth-graders return to class next fall, they will have brand new lockers and classrooms … a place so new that the carpet will smell fresh off the sales floor. The new space on the south side of Grundy Center Junior-Senior High School will have a much greater purpose than classrooms, however. It will create a safety area unlike that at most other school buildings in Iowa.
    The school’s tornado safe room is on target to be completed at least by the scheduled Aug. 6 completion date. Cassi Murra, superintendent in Grundy Center Community School District, said the room is on pace to be completed even a little early if the weather holds out.
    Last week Cardinal Construction of Waterloo began putting the core deck on the facility, which is built to withstand winds of 250 mph and to be able to resist a 15-pound 2 x 4 board traveling 100 miles per hour. The facility’s walls and ceilings will be 18 inches thick and enforced with rebar.

For more of this story, see the June 12 Grundy Register.