Survivors of a deadly 1997 tornado in Jarrell, Texas, will speak Wednesday to emergency personnel and others who might respond in case of a tornado in Cape Girardeau County.

The program, which is open to the public, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Glenn Auditorium in the Dempster Business Building on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

Mark Hasheider, emergency preparedness director of Cape Girardeau, said the program is designed for those who will be called to a disaster scene including police and firefighters, health-care workers and the media.

On May 27, 1997, an F5 tornado, the most severe classification for a twister, hit Jarrell, a community of about 800. Twenty-seven people died. In addition, buildings were leveled and much of the town destroyed.

John Sneed, emergency management coordinator for Williamson County, Texas, and Judge Judy Hobbs, county commissioner in Jarrell, will talk about their experiences during and after the tornado.

"They will be talking about what happened. They have been trying to identify problems. What worked? What didn't work?" Hasheider said. "They hope other people can learn from what they went through."

They will show videos and graphic photographs of the disaster scene.

The presentation is sponsored by Procter & Gamble, Southeast Missouri State University and Cape Girardeau.