Two hundred fifty-three. Even seven years later the death toll from a historic tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011, is staggering. Two hundred fifty-three people, people of all ages and walks of life, lost their lives as a direct result of the storms that day, according to the National Weather Service … One of those was Dr. Laura Myers, now the director of the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama. She was at Mississippi State University in 2011 and was brought into the circle by Jim Stefkovich, who was the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Birmingham at the time.