There is a story in the Clarion Ledger about how our weatherman Matt Lauhban helped to save so many lives in the Tupelo tornado !
Let me tell you, this is absolutely true. It is coming from one..namely me...who ignores the HECK out of storm warnings !
Schools let out early, I am sure mainly due to his warnings. Even then, as the time got closer to when he said the storm would strike, I was still on the computer (as usual)..
Very casually listening to warnings (as usual)..passing them on to my Facebook friends
(as usual ) I turned away from the station looking at some stupid reality show.
My son Henry was playing games on the computer ( as usual)
Then...I saw a Facebook post about a how a tornado had been spotted about 8 miles from the Barnes Crossing Mall (which is a couple of miles from me) So, I switched back to watching Matt. OMG! He was talking fast..giving updates at a feverish pace..
He was spouting out directions for us..and the staff at WTVA.
Then, he started telling them that he was going to be telling them very soon to go to the basement. Then he told all of the non-essential staff to go to the basement.
He has gotten my attention...I was up telling my son we might need to go to the basement ..so be ready. I was getting the candles and flashlight all rounded up that I had readily available ..because of Matt.
Our power went out..so I didn't get to see Matt tell them on the air to hit the basement...or didn't see when he ran off himself...but he had done his job. Later, after the storm was over and our internet finally came back up, I overheard my son telling one of his friends on Skype about the storm...about how his Mom was going crazy! He called me just telling him several times that this might get bad..I didn't raise my voice..or yell ...or anything like that ...but he is SOO ....unused to me saying ANYTHING AT ALL during a storm.. I barely raise an eyebrow...even during the two bad windstorms that we had several months before which damaged the roof, uprooted huge pine trees in our yard and knocked over a neighbors wood fence!!! One very good friend told me that he is definitely alive because of Matt's warnings. He said that he was out in the streets on Gloster when he was receiving warnings. He sped up to get to his father's house right off of Gloster. He said that he grabbed his father (who is bed- ridden) dragged him in the hall and the storm hit all around them in less than a minute. We know that God is ultimately in control, but our weatherman went above and beyond the call of duty. He says that he was only doing his job, but he started Thursday really giving urgent warning about this storm. He was telling us how to prepare and kept saying not to ignore these warnings! My Facebook feed was filled with his updates! So many people did not hear any type of warning sirens ....and out of all of the destruction (THERE WAS A LOT) there was only one death!
This man was on it...and he wouldn't let us ignore it !!!!! Thanks, Matt Laubhan WTVA
#TupeloStrong
To see the video of Matt Laubhan as the newsroom evacuates during tornado that hit Tupelo, Miss., on April 28, 2014. GO TO THIS LINK ......
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2014/05/04/tupelo-residents-say-weatherman-saved-lives/8707515/
The Storm
Keep Mississippi in your thoughts and prayers!
