With some help from residents, Russellville city and Franklin County officials hope to document the location of storm shelters throughout the county.

The county has one of the most thorough Geographic Information Systems in use in Alabama, something that paid dividends in the days and weeks following the April 2011 tornado that ripped across north Alabama.

The system includes layers of data such as where the voting polls are, the topographical information for a certain area, property lines, who owns a particular piece of land, where the law enforcement agencies are located, the demographics of a certain area, if a piece of property is in a flood plain, and the list goes on and on.

One item officials hope to add soon is a comprehensive listing of storm shelters.

Russellville building official Bill Fuller said that many times in a disaster situation, shelters, particularly those underground, become covered by scattered debris.

“If we had a major catastrophe this information would be helpful to rescue personnel,” Fuller said. “If they checked in a home and couldn’t find the occupants, they would know to check for a storm shelter on the property.”

Franklin County GIS Manager Michael Hughes said that coordinates of the shelter would be stored as well as photos of the shelter and the property.

“This would allow us to identify the property if something were to happen there,” Hughes said.

Fuller and Hughes documented the first shelter into the GIS this week.

Russellville resident Jimmy Montgomery had an eight feet by 10 feet shelter built in his back yard. By having the shelter placed into the GIS layers, officials will know to look in the shelter if a storm were to pass through the area and destroy Montgomery’s home.

“This is just another level of protection and security,” Montgomery said.

He has notified his neighbors that they are welcome to use the shelter in the event of a storm.

“So, if a storm hit this particular section of town and rescue officials were looking for residents we would know to check this site,” Hughes said.

To have any shelter, including home basements, added to the GIS layer, contact Hughes at 256-332-8434 or at mhughes@hiwaay.net or Fuller at 256-332-6060 or bill.fuller@russellvillegov.com.