As Mother Nature unleashed her fury on the greater Dallas area April 3, a number of social media sites were lighting up.
The news of the violent weather was streaking across Twitter, Facebook and other social media venues, as folks tried to alert loved ones and strangers at the same time of the dangers. Twitter, especially, once again became a news center for those in the greater Dallas area and those across the nation and world for that matter, concerned with what was going on.
I remember in my “younger days” back in the 1980s when I was living on the East Coast and Hurricane Gloria paid us a visit. We didn’t have the Internet or 24 hours news for that matter to keep us posted on the latest developments. No, it was listening to radio reports and the breaking news segments on the local television channels to stay abreast of the deadly storm.
Flash forward some three decades later and storms such as this past Tuesday’s that hit Dallas and surrounding areas are monitored not only by weather officials, but also by the public via social media.
As news reports indicated, people were tweeting and sharing from their homes, stores, schools, the airport and more.
At the Grapevine Mall in Mesquite, a young woman shared in a Facebook post that she and approximately 1,000 shoppers were taken into the facility’s basement as a precaution with the tornado passing overhead.
Many individuals tweeted and shared their concerns for people in the greater Dallas area, noting that they were reaching out to such individuals to make sure they were taking shelter.
Back on the ground, others living or working in the Dallas area used social media venues to send out pictures and even videos as the storm passed overhead.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, travelers and workers were sharing news with the world as the storm passed by. Passengers were ushered away from windows as a precaution, and all takeoffs and landings ground to a halt.
In all, weather officials reported the possibly a dozen tornadoes rolled through the Metroplex Tuesday, in the process squashing homes and sending cars and big-rig trucks flying through the air. As of Wednesday morning (April 4), no serious injuries or fatalities had been reported.
According to one meteorologist, “It’s one of the worst tornado outbreaks we’ve seen in a longtime here in North Texas.”
While individuals and businesses turned to social media to spread the word, the Dallas Fort Worth Red Cross used Twitter to alert followers to make sure they were adhering to the warnings officials had put out. The agency also used the social media venue to provide tips on taking shelters, and then continued tweeting with information on where the storms were headed.
Even though social media sites can at times get a bad rap for being fodder for killing time during one’s day, the Dallas storms proved once again how social media can help prevent even more death and destruction.
Photo credit: thecount.com
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