This time it was a tornado warning, but for House Mountain on the extreme other side of the county. I pulled the covers over my head, hoping that the noisy box didn’t disturb me again. And it didn’t. No trip to the basement for me that night.

In the clear light of day I was shocked, as were many of you, to discover that, hours earlier, a vicious series of tornadoes caused significant damage across the state, barreling through downtown Nashville and Wilson, Putnam and Smith counties, among others. These caused inconceivable damage and killed at least 26 people. As a girl originally from Kansas who has had the bad fortune of enduring those trips to the basement for tornadoes, but the good fortune of surviving even the worst ones, I cannot convey to you the emotional impact of tornado damage. I can’t describe the hopscotch carnage that makes one question why one was or wasn’t spared from the horrible destruction of this kind of storm. We lawyers are logical by nature. This type of destruction is not. It is totally random and cruel. Just ask any of the survivors.

So what can we, as a bar association, do to deal with this monster? One, and possibly the only, benefit of such disasters — as the 2016 wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and adjacent counties and the 2010 flood in Nashville and Middle Tennessee, involving 30 counties and 31% of the state — is that they reinforce the need for a protocol and system for dealing with disasters from a legal and practical standpoint.

By Thursday morning, March 5, a little more than 48 hours after the disaster, a summit meeting took place in Nashville. Stakeholders included the Nashville Bar Association, the Tennessee Bar Association, the Napier-Looby Bar, TALS (Tennessee Association of Legal Services), Legal Aid of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands, the Tennessee Fair Housing Coalition and the American Bar Association. Other groups have been enthusiastic about joining in. The degree of organization and momentum was amazing. And we need you.

So what needs to happen and what can you do? If you want to get your hands dirty, there are many organizations with boots on the ground cleaning up rubble and destruction. Check your favorite browser. Even though you are reading this article a few weeks after the initial tragedy, there is still much physical work to be done and there are and will continue to be donations to be made.

As for legal needs, it’s a progressive process. In the initial days, most victims didn’t need lawyers. They needed clothes to wear, food to eat, a place to sleep, diapers, toilet paper and medicine. After the initial wave of crisis, they need temporary housing, help dealing with more severe landlord-tenant issues and employment and medical issues. There will be more waves of need for help, including but not limited to dealing with predatory contractors who follow such disasters and unfairly prey on the elderly and others who are desperate for help. There are many other areas of needs. One such area is our attorneys whose offices were displaced by the storm. Imagine having no access to your files, your office, your phones and possibly email, at a time when your clients are more needy than ever.

So what can you, our army of capable and available volunteer lawyers, do to help? If you encounter victims, there is a hotline. Relief efforts are being funneled through a single hotline, 1-844-HELP4TN (1-800-435-7486). Folks who call there will be triaged and given an appointment time to call back to speak with an attorney who can assist with their particular problems.

So who are those lawyers to help all of these victims? That’s where we need you. As you sit in your home or office, appreciating your surroundings, heat and air, food and, yes, even toilet paper, please go to www.tba.org/Tornado_Volunteers, the portal to sign up to volunteer in an area within your expertise. If you can help a lawyer displaced by the storms, consider volunteering your conference room or other office to a colleague who has lost an office.

We, as the Tennessee Bar Association, are proud to demonstrate to our commitment to being the Volunteer State. Please step up, give your expertise, your time and your money. Tornadoes don’t discriminate among good guys and bad guys, socioeconomic levels, or places within the legal system. It’s just plain dumb bad luck and geography. If you are fortunate enough to not be a victim, think about what you would need if you were, and step up to help those less fortunate. 

Access to justice comes in many forms and situations. A dramatic example has slapped us in the face.  Please give of your time and/or money to those less fortunate. And spend $40 on a weather radio to lessen the chances that you will need the help that you, today, can give. Go, Volunteers. 

SARAH Y. SHEPPEARD  is a shareholder in the  Knoxville office of Lewis Thomason and a Rule 31 Listed Mediator. You can reach her at SSheppeard@LewisThomason.com.