In the aftermath of the tornadoes that tore through Beaufort County on April 7 and 25, there was one common claim in every victim’s reaction: there was no warning.

Beaufort County Emergency Management Technician Lisa Respess is trying to change that. She’s been trying to get the word out since last year, when the county launched its Hyper-Reach service, a program that alerts county residents of anything and everything that may affect them or their property, from power outages and boil water alerts to mandatory hurricane evacuations and tornado warnings.

The program is free. All that’s needed is for those with a Beaufort County address to register either online or by filling out a form with Emergency Management.

Unlike other services, Hyper-Reach is very address-specific. If a boil-water alert goes out for one block on one street in the county, no one will receive the alert unless the address registered with Hyper-Reach is on that block. The same goes for tornado warnings, Respess said.

Respess explained  the alerts come directly from the National Weather Service — the foremost weather authority — and its meteorologists’ predictions as to a given tornado’s path. Through Hyper-Reach, only those who are in the projected path are alerted.

“They are very good. They don’t want to call numbers that they don’t feel very certain about. They want only the people that they feel truly are in harm’s way,” Respess said. “(NWS meteorologists) draw a polygon as to where they expect a projected path.”

Hyper-Reach then alerts the phones tied to any address in that area, whether a land line or a cell phone. The accuracy made an impression on Respess during the last two tornadoes.

“If you look at the polygon they drew and the numbers they called, it was almost spot-on,” she said.

Unlike other weather-alert services, Hyper-Reach doesn’t alert every registered user for every event in the county. There’s a reason for that: the possibility of desensitizing residents to a real threat — the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” effect.

“They want you to know that if there is a tornado warning in the area, they are talking about your house, not 25,000 other people in the county. We’re talking about your neighborhood,” Respess said.

Though Beaufort County may have lost property in the recent storms, officials at Emergency Management say the few injuries and no loss of life were extremely lucky considering that no one seemed to have any warning.

But they could have, according to Respess.

On April 7, when April’s first tornado touched down near Beech Ridge Road, Hyper-Reach sent out an alert to everyone in the tornado’s path five minutes before it reached the area. However, no one living in the vicinity was registered for the free service.

“I feel very, very strongly about (people registering) and I felt this way after talking to the people in Beech Ridge. Every one of them were at home or had a cell phone in their pocket, and none of them were registered for weather alerts,” Respess said.

“One thing I noticed on Beech Ridge, from the time the call went out, to the first estimate to on the ground, there was about a four- to five-minute interval there. It doesn’t sound like much, but that can be huge. By the time you see it coming, you don’t have a lot of time. But that four or five minutes — five minutes can save a lot of lives.”

Respess said Hyper-Reach’s service can be used in many ways. Anyone with elderly relatives can register his or her phone number to their relatives’ address. When a Hyper-Reach alert goes out — especially for something as potentially catastrophic as a tornado — they are made aware of what’s going on and can help accordingly. Those who live out of state but have vacation property in the county will receive alerts about anything that will affect that property here.

For her own part, Respess was in Richmond, Va., on April 25, but her parents’ address is registered to her cell phone.

“I come from a farming family,” Respess said. “This time of year, my father is nowhere near the house. He’s on a tractor. But my dad’s phone is always on him.”

She called to warn her parents about the impending tornado. She got through to them, whereas TV, radio and any other alert did not.

Respess also recounted a story about another woman with elderly parents who live in Washington Park. The daughter lives out of state, but after the April 25 tornado  touched down in Washington Park, she registered her phone number to her parents’ address so she could have peace of mind in case of another extreme weather event.

“And now that we’re going into hurricane season, there’s no better time to get these phones registered,” Respess said, adding that hurricanes regularly spawn isolated tornadoes.

Respess stressed that it’s really important for those with no home phone, who rely solely on cell phones, to register for the service.

“I don’t think we’ve done it since Hurricane Irene, but if there was ever a mass message that needed to go out to the citizens of Beaufort County at large, if we ever had a major catastrophe, a major fire or explosion, and the county government decided they needed to send out a message to all citizens, if your cellphone’s not registered, you’re not going to get that message,” Respess said.

Respess encouraged those who are more computer-savvy to help any family, friends and neighbors, especially older residents, who may not have the computer access or know-how to register for Hyper-Reach online.

“I guess my biggest push is just to get people to do it. I don’t know because I haven’t looked at all the data, but I wonder how many cell phones or landlines rang and said there’s a tornado coming your way,” Respess said. “It is very, very area specific. They are not going to buzz your phone and tell you to take cover unless they really, really mean it.”

To register for Beaufort County’s Hyper-Reach service, visit www.hyper-reach.com/ncbeaufortsignup.html. For more information or assistance with registering, call Lisa Respess at 252-946-2046.