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)