LEEDS, Ala. —
With no storm shelter in the city of Leeds, residents are making other preparations for safety ahead of Saturday's expected severe weather outbreak.
"I feel like our city is not taking care of its citizens," Albert Daw Jr. said.
Daw said he has been trying to get a storm shelter in Leeds for years with no luck.
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Now, the city is part of the Alabama region under a Level 5 risk of severe weather Saturday, meaning a tornado outbreak is likely.
"Here we are with nothing, and people can't get out to get to one because it's a good drive to get to a storm shelter," Daw said. "I mean, if you're driving and the storm's coming, it's a little too late to bet getting to a storm shelter when the storm's already on top of you, so yeah, it's been extremely frustrating."
Daw is one of the few in his neighborhood with a basement in case of a tornado warning, but it is not the same for others.
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"All the way around, there's trailers, and you see, we're on top of a mountain," Daw said. "Look around, with just a slight bit of wind, trees start falling everywhere, so yeah, I'm worried about them."
Patsy Peoples is one of them. She lives in a mobile home around the corner from Daw. With no shelter nearby to go to, she had to make another plan.
"I'll leave here tomorrow morning, and I'll go to my daughter's house and stay tomorrow night in Odenville, and then I'll come back here Sunday night," Peoples said.
But Peoples knows not all of her neighbors have the luxury of riding out storms somewhere else.
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"There is a lot of people that look for a place to when storms come through," Peoples said.
While they hope for the best, Daw and others in the area with safe places to go in their homes will open their doors in case the worst comes.
"People are going to get hurt," Daw said. "I don't want people to get hurt, especially if they have somewhere to go to at least they'd be safe. You can replace physical things, but you can't replace yourself."
But Daw is vowing to keep fighting for a storm shelter before it may one day be too late.
"We are going to go Monday night to the council again to ask we need a spot to put the storm shelter," Daw said. "There is no protection from a storm shelter that we should have already had."
For a complete list of storm shelters county by county, see below.
STORM SHELTERS
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