April has been a terrifying month for destructive weather events throughout the country. Here in Pennsylvania, we have seen the dramatic images flashing on our screens and printed on the newspaper page, but most of us remain distant and far removed from the disasters.

When I picked up a call from my sister Amanda on the afternoon of April 16, I was surprised to hear her panicked voice telling me about the terrible storms that were hitting her area in North Carolina. Married to a captain in the Army who is currently deployed in Iraq, she was in their home near the Fort Bragg Military Installation.When she told me a tornado might be heading her way, I imagined the kind that causes minimal damage, some lost roof shingles and downed trees. I severely underestimated what was really headed her way.North Carolina ended up having a record-setting day with over 30 reported tornadoes. Five of these were rated the extremely dangerous EF3 level. Preliminary estimates show that more than 20 people were killed, while well over 100 more were injured. The cost to the state that the storms caused remains unknown, but it is projected to be in the tens of millions of dollars."When I first heard the weather warnings, I was glad to be home and was ready to wait out the storm," said Amanda. "Then reports started coming in that buildings and houses were destroyed in a nearby town and I realized being home did not mean I was safe."An emergency radio is now on the top of her shopping list."I really started to panic when I lost power," added Amanda. "I knew an enormous tornado had just hit only miles away, but I had no idea which way it was heading. I was ready to take cover."I tried to help Amanda by tracking the tornado from national sources available to me in Pennsylvania, but I had trouble getting specific enough local reports. I eventually turned to Twitter and found real time updates from people right there.Thankfully Amanda's neighborhood was spared from the path of the tornadoes, but she was extremely close to two of the tornadoes that shook the region. The first occurred north of her in Sanford where a Lowes store was demolished, while the second hit Fayetteville, home of Fort Bragg and just a short distance south of her home.Amanda went without power for two days and had a yard filled with broken branches, but this was nothing compared to the shocking scenes she would see in neighboring towns. The day immediately after the storms she found herself in a gorgeous Southern spring day, but the chaos that surrounded her was devastating."The police and emergency presence was intense," she described. "Many roads remained impassible and with debris everywhere and the power still out, safety remained a huge concern. All around people were starting to clean up their property and the community started coming together to help with the process."Although I heard personal stories from my sister and saw numerous images coming out of the area, it was not until I went down for an Easter weekend visit and I was able to see the damage for myself, that I truly began to grasp the severity and power of these storms.On our drive down, we saw the leveled Lowes store in Sanford that was shown on news outlets all over the country. It is truly a miracle that no customers or employees were seriously injured that day. We visited Fayetteville a week after the storms had hit, but the cleanup process was still in the earliest of stages. The atmosphere was very eerie and the town much more quiet than usual.Remains of buildings, abandoned vehicles, broken glass, and fallen power lines lined the streets. The smell in the air was unlike anything I've come across before. A strong wet and musty scent reeked of devastation and depression.Tornadoes are a fascinating force in the way they leave such a clear and defined path. We saw developments in which one house was completely gone while the neighboring property suffered only minor damage. These storms form quickly and usually come with little warning. With barely enough time to take cover and being very unpredictable, no one is safe.When you see houses with only their front steps left standing or cars piled on top of each other, you try to imagine the exact moments that left these scenes behind. You hope that the family escaped the rubble and that the drivers of these cars had already left their vehicles. But of course that is not always the reality.The physical recovery in North Carolina, as well as the many other states that have been hammered with severe weather this past month, will take a great deal of time. The emotional impact on the residents will surely remain with many even longer."This experience has completely changed my outlook," said Amanda. "Like many others, I did not always pay proper attention to weather warnings. Everyone around here is on guard now and will probably never look at a thunderstorm in the same way."You can see something in pictures so many times, but as soon as you're standing in the path of something so terrible, your perspective completely changes," Amanda added. "I am extremely thankful that I was not severely affected and my thoughts are with the residents that were."