JACKSONVILLE, Onslow County — When he was just 12 years old, Director of Onslow County Emergency Services Norman Bryson and his family survived two back-to-back tornadoes.
Now, he’s using his story to encourage people to take active measures in staying safe during severe weather.
“We just barely missed the one at the church. I mean by seconds more than likely,” reflected Bryson on the night of March 28, 1984, when the tornadoes hit.
He remembers rushing to get home to his mother and brother and driving through the second tornado of the evening.
“You know, I’m 12 years old, you don’t know what the sciences are, you don’t know all the factors behind it,” he said.
When he got home, the house was completely destroyed, and his mother recounted what it was like.
“It was just a horrific ripping and tearing at the other end of the house,” his mother told him.
The whole family took shelter under the severely damaged house for the remainder of the night, and for the following year, they had to stay at the church parsonage.
His father started a job with Sampson County Emergency Services after that year, a position that Bryson says could be the reason he has the job he does today.
“Seeing him in that field is what kind of put me here,” said Bryson. “I’m doing what I’ve been wanting to do since high school.”
He says now there are many more resources that we should take advantage of when it comes to staying prepared and protected from severe weather.
“It’s still something that we have to be prepared for,” he said, “we have to make sure we get those watches and warnings. We have a great many ways of receiving and watching those warnings than we did in 1984.”
Download the StormTrack 12 app on Android or Apple phones for up-to-date forecasts for eastern North Carolina.
by Lucy Nelson and Sydney Basden (2021, Mar 10) WCTI NewsChannel 12
