10A
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY MARY KANSAN
MONDAY, MAY 7, 2007
REACTION (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
roof was off."
Stephanie said having 24-hour news coverage of her small hometown, seeing the images shown and hearing first-hand accounts by friends who lived it made the situation seem horrific, but not being there made it all surreal.
"Everything is gone," she said.
"It looks like a landfill. I usually don't know what they're showing because it's unrecognizable. And I lived there for 18 years."
Zach said he hadn't watched the news a lot, but he did watch CNN's helicopter coverage.
"The only thing I recognized was one bank and the Quik Shop because the sign was on the ground," he said. "The school I went to you can hardly make out the brick building."
The White family house, located in the country a mile north of Greensburg, is still standing with little damage other than broken
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windows and a battered shed, barn and garage.
"Everyone I know of that lives in town, their houses are destroyed," Zach said.
Stephanie said the town was so tightly knit that she recognized all of the faces she saw on the news and knew every resident who was killed in the storm. The Associated Press reported that at least eight people in Greensburg were killed in the storm.
Even through the tremendous amount of destruction that the tornado brought, Zach said it was neat to see friends away from Greensburg at various colleges who all wanted to go back to do what they could to help.
"I know who is alive because of who I see in the shelters in the news," she said. "It's hard to contact anyone because calls drop and cut out. It makes it a guessing game."
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Zach, Stephanie and Kelly McKinney, Greensburg freshman, left Saturday morning at around 6 a.m. to meet other Greensburg students in Manhattan. By the time they had reached Emporia, Zach and Stephanie's mother called and told them to turn around.
"She told us they were under another tornado watch, and we wouldn't be allowed in on the highways." Stephanie said.
The three tentatively plan to travel home Wednesday, pending road conditions and whether Greensburg is open.
McKinney was also in Lawrence when she heard bad weather was headed to her hometown. She traveled to Haviland, a neighboring town 10 miles east of Greensburg, on Saturday after the trip with the Whites failed. Shelters have been set up in Haviland, but McKinney is staving with relatives.
McKinney traveled to her Greensburg house Sunday with family to see the damage. They were able to see the house because it was located south of Greensburg where traffic was still moving. Everything
but the home's kitchen sink and part of a counter was destroyed.
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"The house is gone," McKinney said. "It looks like someone put the whole town in a box and just shook it up. There is random stuff strewn everywhere."
McKinney's mother was mostly worried about her crystal and china. Amazingly, the china cabinet it was stored in was turned on its front with both sides torn off but only a few pieces of the dishes were broken. They also recovered photo albums.
McKinney said the only way they knew how to get around was the town's grain elevator that was among the few buildings still standing.
"We also found my sister's purse and graduation dress that she just bought," McKinney said. "It still has the tags on it but is just really dirty."
"When you see pictures it doesn't show the magnitude of what happened," she said. "It's just unbelievable. It's flattered."
McKinney said the lives of 28 Greensburg students and six adults were saved because of a trip to Salina for state forensics. McKinney's mother was one of the adults.
"It's just really cool that many people didn't have to be there when it happened." McKinney said. "A lot of people should have died and didn't."
The Red Cross estimated that 90 percent of the city was destroyed or heavily damaged. More than 60 people were injured and the Red Cross reported that at least 400 residents were taken to shelters in schools and other facilities in nearby towns.
McKinney said she planned to return to Lawrence Tuesday evening to return to classes and study for finals.
Kansan staff writer Bethany Bunch can be contacted at bbunch@kansan.com.
Edited by Carissa Pedigo
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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
motown of Greens
Stephanie, senior, and Zach, freshman, White tried to travel to their hometown of Greensburg to see the damage to their house, but could not enter because of closed roads.
Fernando Salazar/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Eleven-year-old Tyler Mcintosh found a new friend while collecting things in his home Sunday in Greensburg. Rescue workers dug through piles of rubble Sunday searching for anyone who might have been trapped by Friday's tornado that obliterated the south-central Kansas town, while officials began talking about rebuilding.
GREENSBURG (CONTINUED FROM 1A)
begins" said Kansas state trooper Ronald Knoefel.
Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general, said officials did not know if anyone was missing.
"A lot of people have gone to other places and it's difficult to track them down," he said.
National Guard engineers were helping with the search, which was expected to wind down by the evening.
"Some of the rubble is just so deep," Bunting said. "That's really what our problem is."
While some residents wondered about the town's future, Hainje was optimistic.
"The town will be back. I have no doubt of that." he said.
Greensburg remained off limits to residents Sunday, but officials said they would be allowed to return Monday morning to recover what they could. Residents were to be bused in and must be out of town by 6 p.m.
President Bush declared parts of Kansas a disaster area, freeing up federal money to aid in recovery.
Dick Hainje, regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the agency was bringing in travel trailers for some of the town's residents — trailers that had been ordered for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. But it wasn't clear when people would be able to move in to the trailers; debris was in the way and the town had no clean water.
"It's going to take a long time for the community to recover," Bush said Sunday, referring to Greensburg, after attending a morning service at a church in Washington. "And so we'll help in any way we can."
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The storms in Kansas were part of a weekend of violent weather, with tornadoes also dashing across other parts of the Plains states late Saturday. And on Sunday, the National Weather Service posted a new tornado warning for south-central Kansas, saying a funnel cloud was spotted near Corwin, 65 miles southeast of Greensburg.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius planned to tour Greensburg on Sunday, and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback was to visit Monday.
The National Weather Service classified the tornado as an F-5, the most powerful possible. The weather service said it cut a 22-mile track, 1.7 miles wide, and had winds estimated at 205 miles per hour. The last tornado of that strength was in Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999, and killed 36 people.
Greensburg Administrator Steve Hewitt, who lost his home, estimated 95 percent of the town of 1,500 was destroyed.
"I see a community coming together. I see a future here. I really do," Hewitt said.
State Rep. Dennis McKinney, the House minority leader and a Greensburg resident, said he hoped to rebuild his home in the same place. But other residents were unsure about the town's future.
"I if hear that people are going stay and were going to have a school, then I'll stay," said Greensburg High School shop teacher Peter Kern, who had lived in the town for the last
year. "If we don't have a school, I don't have a job."
Darin Headrick, superintendent of Greensburg's public schools, said classes will be canceled for the rest of the academic year, with graduation being held elsewhere. When school resumes in August, the district, which has about 300 students, will hold classes in other communities.
Among the few structures that survived was the Bar H Tavern, which was briefly converted into a morgue. Command operations for rescue efforts were moved into the town's courthouse, which was damaged but still standing. The massive concrete silos of a grain elevator still towered over what was left of the town.
All the churches were destroyed. Every business on main street was demolished. The town's fire engines were crushed and other crumpled vehicles were thrown around. Tree trunks stood bare, stripped of most of their branches.
The town's claim to fame — the world's biggest hand dug well — was buried under a mountain of debris. The gift store at the well had disappeared.
For decades, meteorite hunters from throughout the world have been drawn here to hunt for meteorites. The town's extensive meteorite collection, including one weighing 1,000 pound, was one of the casualties of the storm.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, left, talks to Jason West, while West holds his 2-year-old son, Bo, as they discuss when residents would be allowed back in to see their homes in Greensburg. Sunday. A tornado struck the town on Friday. Sebelius took a tour of the emergency shelter in the Havilland High School qym and downtown Greensburg.
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