Note: Reposted due to formatting error. DS

***

From the NWS Little Rock Website after the tornadoes of April 27, 2014

The Human Element

This website has numerous event pages filled with explanations, facts
and figures. This is one of those pages, but there is one very important
aspect that must be covered. Any event like this is about the people.
It is about personal experiences, miracles and tragedies. There are
stories out there that catch your attention. As one television
meteorologist put it on Twitter after finding a story: "You should read
this blog. This is reality. This is not numbers and radar images. This
is what happened." Absolutely right.

Around Mayflower (Faulkner County), there was a story about a family with
a basement on Lake Conway, and they shared the basement with a lot of
local residents. While the house took a direct hit, they all made it.
Then there was the story about the Air Force airman in Vilonia (Faulkner
County) who shielded his daughter from the monster we all know about now.
His mission was successful, but he lost his life. Today, his daughter
calls her daddy a hero. Not far away, another man got a call from his
father that a tornado was headed toward town. The man took his sons to an
interior bathroom, but thought it might not be enough protection. They ran
to their truck and headed to a community safe room. It was a wise decision
When they returned, the house was gone. And then there was the woman in the
same area that tried frantically to reach her friend following the storm.
No luck. She sent her husband to find out what happened. When she texted
him, there was no answer at first. According to her blog, she texted the
following: "Are they hurt? Are they alive? Miah (her husband), please tell
me they are alive." His response: "I can't." Her friend survived (with
injuries), but her two boys did not.

The stories of people living the events greatly affect those covering the
events. Even here at the National Weather Service, there is a feeling of
helplessness when a tornado is tearing up the countryside. You hope that
people are getting the warnings and finding shelter. But when the reports
roll in, and the words are filled with human suffering, that's hard to
deal with at times. As one of our local forecasters wrote recently, "I'll
never be the same again. I've worked many severe weather days - and a few
tornadoes. But this one was different. The only thing I can think of is
that I have more years as a husband and father under my belt. You really
have an understanding of how precious and fragile life is and can be. And
you try to take it less for granted."

This is the human element. It is emotions, feelings, and coping. It is not
a bunch of statistics. Now you have the whole story.


Posted by VPost v1.9.130628

--- Virtual Advanced Ver 2 for DOS 
 * ORIGIN: The Thunderbolt BBS - wx1der.dyndns.org (1:19/33)