A Texas elementary school teacher is being hailed as a hero after she raced barefoot ahead of a tornado last week in order to warn students and their parents to take cover.

Megan Parson is a fourth grade teacher at Celia Hays Elementary School in Rockwall. Classes had just dismissed for the day when the principal's voice came over the loud speaker and told students that there were tornados in the area and they should get into the necessary safety position against the walls of the hallway.

As students were crouching down with their hands over their heads, Parson knew that there were already students outside who were waiting to be picked up by their parents.

The 25-year-old teacher, who is also an avid Instagram fashion blogger, says that when she saw the line of cars that were already waiting in the school's carpool lane, she slipped off her shoes ("because they were new and cute") and took off running to warn the parents.

Parson was later amused to realize that she had also forgotten to remove the fake black mustache that she had been wearing for a class party before warning the parents.

"So, all parents see is this crazy girl running barefoot in the rain with a tornado in the background wearing a fake black mustache," Parson recalled in a Facebook post. "No wonder they made me run all the way to their window before rolling it down.

"Needless to say, I ripped the mustache off, kept running, and finished telling every parent in the rest of the cars down the block to seek shelter, minus the mustache."

Parson did not realize that the tornado was so close to the school until she saw the now-viral picture that one of the parents had captured of her impromptu safety mission.

"That is such a crazy photo, and thank you to whoever took it because I don't think anyone would have ever believed me that I was running down the street and that I looked ridiculous doing it," Parson said, according to Fox 4 Dallas. "I'm just really grateful that everybody ended up being safe and we got a good laugh out of it."

Be Sure And Share The Inspiring Story With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Marni Cohen