Person of the Week: Max Mayfield

Sept. 23, 2005 — -- As the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Max Mayfield is always in the eye of the storm.

"I've been here for 33 years, and I guess I've spent most of my adult career trying to prevent a large loss of life," he said. "I can assure you no one wants to find out how to prevent things better than me."

Mayfield leads a team of forecasters who have been tracking Hurricane Rita 24 hours a day since it was tiny blip on their radar.

He works the phones -- updating officials in Texas, talking to the new director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and taking a moment to call his son, who on Thursday was in Texas in the path of the storm.

Millions of Americans depend on Mayfield's forecasts.

"If you have the best airplanes, the best satellites and radars, and fastest computers and really if you make that perfect forecast, if you can't get people to take the appropriate action it's all for nothing," he said.

A big part of his job involves warning the public of impending danger. He sometimes does as many as 100 interviews with television stations in a single day.

"There is a lot of pressure, but you really can't take the time to dwell on that," he said. "As long as you focus on saving lives, everything else seems to fall in place."

The day before Hurricane Katrina struck land, Mayfield predicted a disaster. He warned President Bush and FEMA. He even personally called governors and city officials.

"I wanted to leave the hurricane center that night and go home and sleep, knowing that I did everything that I could do," he said.

Raised in 'Tornado Alley'

Mayfield was born in Oklahoma. He is passionate about Oklahoma football and respectful of the power of nature, having grown up in "Tornado Alley."

"There were tornado warnings," he said, "and we'd get into a closet and hunker down there. So, sure, there was always that fascination."

Mayfield's wife, Linda, is a school librarian. Together, they have three adult children. While he's mindful of the families who may be in harm's way, he is also aware that science gives him a chance to warn them.

"A few days out of the year you really feel like you make a difference, and that difference comes in saving lives," he said. "And I'm just glad to be a small part of the nation's hurricane warning program."

ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas filed this report for "World News Tonight."