THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2007
MICROBURST
7A
Employees of the Replay Lounge sit in the aftermath of high winds late morning March 12, 2006. Several downtown businesses lost windows and had other damage.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Power, coffee scarce after storm
The sound of the wind woke me up that morning. I opened my eyes and saw that the sky was orange, which is ominous in the evening, but worse in the morning. I opened the blinds and looked out the window. The tree in front of the window was blowing around in circles. I thought I should turn on the radio to see what was happening and, at that moment, the power went out.
I got up, went out to the porch and saw the damage in my yard. My boyfriend was at work, but his brother — our roommate — was home. We could hear the popping
of power transformers all around.
My cousin, who lives on the west side of Lawrence, came by to survey the damage and search for coffee; their power went out before they could make any. We finally found out Z's Espresso, 1800 E 23rd St., was still up and running. By the time my cousins got home, their power was back on. Ours was out until 8 or 9 Tuesday night. We had to put bags of ice in our fridge to keep the food from spoiling.
Corinne Legleiter Wichita junior
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The odd nature of the storm and the freak damage it caused brought students and Lawrence residents out in droves to take pictures and assess the aftermath..
Emily Finch/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Trees and other debris caused massive damage to vehicles on the KU campus and around Lawrence.
Winds cause rude awakening
I was dead asleep in the wee hours of the morning when I was awakened by my girlfriend who was trying to tell me something was wrong with the weather. I, in my stubborn native Kansan-ness, tried to tell her that it was probably nothing worth getting worried over, and I tried to go back to sleep. I couldn't.
All of a sudden out of the dead silence there was a chorus of plastic beer cups blowing all in unison from the direction of the bars down 14th Street. One thing I didn't hear, though, was a tornado
siren. The wind picked up before I could react.
As I looked out the window I could see roof tiles and branches being ripped from the houses and trees. The debris was moving in a wide, circular motion. In my underwear, I ran to the bottom floor of the apartment only to find there was no basement. And then, just like that, it was over. I threw on some clothes, grabbed my camera and went to assess the damage.
Ian Horner 2006 graduate
The microburst left fallen trees and other unwieldy debris in its wake as it tore through Lawrence last year.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kimberly Duensing/CONTIRBUTED PHOTO
Kimberly Duensing/CONTIRBUTED PHOTO Vehicles and property alike suffered from scattered debris and fallen trees and tree limbs.
Emily Finch/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Marvin Hall's windows stand an empty testament to the power of Mother Nature after the sudden and destructive storm.