If you find yourself moving to a new area, it’s only a matter of time before you become aware of a local legend who is respected as a pillar of the community.
They might not attract much attention elsewhere but in one particular county or state, you’ll discover that they’re trusted and even loved by almost everyone you meet.
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In a place that’s known for its destructive weather patterns, it perhaps shouldn’t be surprising that one of the people locals rely on the most would be a meteorologist. But in a recent broadcast, Alabama’s biggest weather expert made it clear as to why he’s so admired.
On March 25, Alabama residents faced a series of destructive and deadly tornadoes.
According to NPR , these storms claimed the lives of five people and left over 26,000 households without power.
The tornadoes also left an unclear number of destroyed homes and injured Alabamians in its wake and came after a week in which they and Mississippi residents already had to deal with 50 tornadoes.
And for almost eight straight hours, ABC 33/40’s chief meteorologist James Spann was meticulously tracking the tornadoes alongside his colleague Taylor Sarallo.
The entirely of the broadcast can be seen on the station’s Facebook page but about two hours into the coverage, he tracked one tornado passing over north Shelby County, where he lives.
Soon after the storm has passed over that area, others at ABC 33/40 reached out to Spann’s wife, Karen to check on her.
As the outlet reported , the Spanns had built a new home several years ago, which the meteorologist insisted must include a storm shelter capable of withstanding a E-F5 tornado.
And that was precisely where Mrs. Spann was when her husband learned that there had been damage to his home.
So he turned the broadcast over to Sarallo and stepped out of the studio to contact his wife and confirm both her and their family’s safety.
But not five minutes after he was assured she was unharmed and learned the extent of the damage, Spann came right back on air and continued his coverage.
According to AL.com , when the weather began to calm down later in his broadcast, he shared this photo from his property that gave viewers a sense of what the tornado had done to it.
As he put it, “I’ll shoot straight with you guys, that’s my backyard. It’s been a rough day. Very rough day.”
But while there was some damage to the house itself, Mrs. Spann told staff at ABC 33/40 that a tree had miraculously missed it when it fell over.
So after receiving a series of concerned messages from viewers, Spann shared the following words confirming that his house was intact and that his family was safe.
From there, he urged viewers to come together and help those who weren’t as fortunate as he was in a message you can see from this clip from Twitter.
Across social media, the relief and praise for Spann was palpable among his fellow Alabamians.
h/t: ABC 33/40
