Linwood ? A group of young people with muscular dystrophy had to be sheltered from storms two nights in a row at Tall Oaks Conference Center camp.

On Wednesday night, some of the 69 youths in the weeklong camp were taken to a basement shelter area under the camp’s dining hall, but those in wheelchairs were kept in the campground’s main lodge, said Angela Hills, camp director for the Kansas City area Muscular Dystrophy Association. The campers, representing 41 counties in the region, were made aware of the danger and slept on mattresses in the two locations.

Had the storm proved dangerous for the area, the youths in the above-ground shelter would have been moved to rooms in a center wing of the building.

“We could get them in there, and everybody would be safe,” Hills said.

Camp counselors kept an eye on three different Internet radar sites until the National Weather Service removed a tornado watch for the area that included the camp. The 83 camp counselors and staff members were made aware of the severe weather emergency procedures during an 18-hour orientation before camp started, Hills said. Several staff members also carry weather radios with them around-the-clock when the campers are present.

Hills said about 60 percent of the counselors have participated in the camp for more than five years and helped control the situation in a calm manner.

“Our No. 1 goal is to make sure that everything at camp is safe, and if that means that we all hunker down together and stay in a safe location for a night, just on the off-chance that something might pop up, then that’s what we do,” she said.

Hills said the campers were also protected Thursday night, when a tornado caused limited damage in town as it bounced through.

The campers, with varying degrees of the neuromuscular disease, also contended with weather Sunday night, the first night of camp. A storm watch was never issued for the area, but the campers stayed in the indoor shelter until storms passed through before returning to their cabins for the evening.