A series of storms is battering the Mississippi Delta, leaving at least 24 dead in its wake. It is a belt of very dangerous tornadoes that are not giving the population of the area a break. One of the affected localities is Amory, in the state of Mississippi.
On March 24, just before 11:00 p.m., Matt Laubhan, chief meteorologist for WTVA, an NBC affiliate in Tupelo, Mississippi, couldn’t help but be disappointed during his show when he saw on radar that a tornado it was heading straight for Amory.
The Emmy Award-winning meteorologist was reporting and trying to gauge the strength and speed of the tornado. Based on that, he calculated where he was going to go and in how many minutes he was going to arrive. He gave a margin of between two and three minutes to find a refuge in case of being on the street. “So Amory, we have to be in our tornado safe place,” Laubhan told the audience seconds before announcing that a new scan had arrived. The updated information was not good at all.
“Oh man, North Amory, this is coming,” he said in awe, pausing briefly to launch a quick prayer for the town. “Dear Jesus, please help them. Amen,” Laubhan said.
The weatherman could not contain his excitement when he realized the magnitude of the storm. Without looking at the camera, he could only follow the radar path of a “life-threatening tornado” with his eyes.
After a few seconds, he recovered as best he could and assured that, based on the new data, the tornado was going to touch Amory in just 20 seconds.
Just before updating the information, he had already warned that this could happen at any time: “This is what happens, you all trust me too much. I tell you where it is going to go and some of you say: That is where it is going to go. The The reality is that this could change direction.
