NFT recently spoke with flooring business management software maker RFMS about the devastation in the city of Tuscaloosa, Ala., where RFMS is based. Tuscaloosa was heavily damaged by a mile-wide, wedge-shaped tornado that struck the community on April 27.

Maria Cauchon, RFMS’s media services director, said that the company, located at 3073 Palisades Court, was spared by the twister, which passed about a mile away from the building. The nearby Wheat’s Carpet One Floor & Home in Northport, Ala., was also intact. However, several employees from RFMS lost their homes in the storm, and several installers that work for Wheat's also sustained damage to their homes.

“It’s a pretty devastating scene,” she said. “We’re all just kind of in a weird mood today, trying to go out and help where we can. We’ve had a lot of tornados around here before, but today they’re still finding people in trees. That’s how bad this one was.”

She said the best way to help out is to donate to Temporary Emergency Services and the American Red Cross. Some employees from RFMS are also planning to drive out to employees who lost their homes, to help them try to salvage what they can. -Michael Chmielecki