By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Helena likely will have three new storm shelters by 2015 after the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a $292,500 grant.

FEMA contacted Helena Mayor Sonny Penhale on Oct. 29 and notified him the city had been selected for the grant, said mayor’s assistant Joy Childers.

The total cost of the project will be about $478,000, Childers said. Helena will fund the balance of the project not covered by the grant.

“Mayor Penhale has been working on this for a while,” Childers said.

The project calls for storm shelters to be constructed in Sonny Penhale Park, Cahaba Lilly Park and near the Helena Community Center on Ruffin Road, Childers said. Construction on the shelters is scheduled to begin within 90 days, and is slated to be completed by October 2015.