By Alabama Public Radio
Mobile, AL – Families in Mobile County are now eligible to apply for grants to build a safe room in their homes to protect them from severe weather. Safe rooms are reinforced areas that can usually withstand severe weather, even if the rest of the house is destroyed. The Mobile County Emergency Management Agency and the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission are supporting the program. The grants pay 75 percent of the building cost up to 35-hundred dollars. The safe rooms must be built within six months of grant approval. And, they must meet the specifications of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.