TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WIAT) — The University of Alabama had storm shelters on campus ready due to the threat of severe weather Thursday in Tuscaloosa.

Emma Deitz is a sophomore at UA and was concerned about potentially bad weather hitting west Alabama. She was glad to know the university had tornado storm shelters where students can go in case of a weather emergency.

“Shelters make me feel more safe and UA is good about sending out emails letting everyone where the storm shelters are,” Deitz said.

There are nine storm shelters located across different areas on campus. Some are located in the basement of dorm buildings and some others in parking deck structures.

Ken Horst is the assistant director for UA Emergency Management. He says altogether the nine shelters can accommodate 19,000 people.

“It’s a safe space and is absolutely a place that is designed to resist high winds,” Horst said. “The way the university operates is when we go under a tornado watch, we open up all our storm shelters.”

UA student Madison Martin is also thankful there are safe places to go on campus when the weather gets bad.

“It does make me feel better and makes me feel secure because you’re not home anymore with your parents who tell you to get in the basement,” Martin said. “So it makes you feel better you have somewhere to go and you’re not sitting in your dorm when this big storm is hitting.”

All nine shelters are built to withstand 250 mph wind speeds.