casual-observer
Pantone 151C
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2017
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Anyone living in the south will recall on Easter Sunday (April 12th) of this year, a storm front passed through that wreaked havoc on thousands of homes and business. During the two-day outbreak an estimated 140 tornadoes touched down in 10 states causing an estimated 5 billion dollars in damages and worse, taking 32 precious lives.
I was close to, but did not suffer any direct loss from the storms that night. A co-worker’s property was hit around 8pm that evening in northwest Georgia and, while all the property around him was destroyed, thankfully his home and family were safe and untouched. Myself and coworkers watched carefully for hours and relayed information to hom over the mobile networks as quickly as we could since power and Internet services for him were dark for several hours.
In southeast Tennessee, the wild events seemed to finally be slowing as the evening was winding down. My personal storm center (live TV coverage, a live stream from the local NBC affiliate on the notebook computer, iPad running radar services, and mobile phone for texting) was quiet and my family and I were watching the final minutes of John Legend starring in the live version of Jesus Christ Superstar. A strange COVID-19 Easter to be sure.
Suddenly, the local NBC news affiliate broke in with a fresh batch of severe storm warnings. A new surprise cell had just been spotted approximately ten miles from my house and travelling directly to my younger brother’s residence. At first, they were not providing many details. Clearly even they had been caught off guard. The meteorologists were studying the debris field signature from the radar and trying to understand the extent of what the computers were telling them.
Turning to the live feed coming from Facebook (my least favorite source of information), the stream came to life with reports from local neighborhoods describing the massive amounts of destruction. A local school, Grace Baptist Academy, was now missing the entire second floor of their complex. Neighbors from the Holly Hills subdivision were reporting roofs gone and trees down.
And then, in the midst of all the violence and calamity, George Souther typed this important post. A reminder that, even in the darkest and the scariest or times, it’s important to not be distracted from facts that matter most (see screenshot I captured that evening below):
George Souther - I don't know who you are. But I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as when that post came through that evening. Thank you.
Go
Big
Orange
WGWTFA
I was close to, but did not suffer any direct loss from the storms that night. A co-worker’s property was hit around 8pm that evening in northwest Georgia and, while all the property around him was destroyed, thankfully his home and family were safe and untouched. Myself and coworkers watched carefully for hours and relayed information to hom over the mobile networks as quickly as we could since power and Internet services for him were dark for several hours.
In southeast Tennessee, the wild events seemed to finally be slowing as the evening was winding down. My personal storm center (live TV coverage, a live stream from the local NBC affiliate on the notebook computer, iPad running radar services, and mobile phone for texting) was quiet and my family and I were watching the final minutes of John Legend starring in the live version of Jesus Christ Superstar. A strange COVID-19 Easter to be sure.
Suddenly, the local NBC news affiliate broke in with a fresh batch of severe storm warnings. A new surprise cell had just been spotted approximately ten miles from my house and travelling directly to my younger brother’s residence. At first, they were not providing many details. Clearly even they had been caught off guard. The meteorologists were studying the debris field signature from the radar and trying to understand the extent of what the computers were telling them.
Turning to the live feed coming from Facebook (my least favorite source of information), the stream came to life with reports from local neighborhoods describing the massive amounts of destruction. A local school, Grace Baptist Academy, was now missing the entire second floor of their complex. Neighbors from the Holly Hills subdivision were reporting roofs gone and trees down.
And then, in the midst of all the violence and calamity, George Souther typed this important post. A reminder that, even in the darkest and the scariest or times, it’s important to not be distracted from facts that matter most (see screenshot I captured that evening below):
George Souther - I don't know who you are. But I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as when that post came through that evening. Thank you.
Go
Big
Orange
WGWTFA
