Last night a large tornado ripped through the town of Greensburg, Kansas flattening the entire town of 1600. I was watching KAKE 10 at 10 last night when the warning went out. I went to bed and got up at 2:30 this morning because I was unable to sleep, I flipped on the tv to KAKE 10, and they were doing unlimited coverage on the storm. When they showed pictures of the damage, my heart just dropped.
As of now they have two confirmed death, although several media outlets have given numbers ranging from 3 to 4 deaths. I believe there were 63 that were seriously injured. Parts of Highway 54 have been closed, as well as another highway in that area. The city is being evacuated as I type this.
My hearts goes out to all the victims. My prayers are with those who lost everything they had. I cannot even imagine what they are going through.
Here is a link to KAKE, it shows photographs of the large tornado, and damage as well.
http://www.kake.com/breakingnews/7347256.html
Channel 12, KWCH, is reporting there are 6 dead in Greensburg and 1 dead in Stafford County, which is north of Greensburg. Charlie Wiseman, who lives at Pratt, said that the entire town is destroyed. His instructor's business was completely blown away. Just a clean spot there.
This reminds me of the tornado that hit our neighborhood 8 years ago, almost to the day. We had been watching the sky and it looked bad, but there was no sign of a tornado and my husband was an experienced tornado spotter. He stayed outside as long as he could and less than 10 minutes after he came in, we were hit. I had been watching TV and there hadn't been any report of a tornado being spotted. All but one of the neighbors to the southeast of us, less than a block, was wiped away. A grandmother and her baby grandchild were killed and another person died later. Two other neighbors had to evacuate their homes. We had been caught by the edge of it and didn't suffer enough damage that we had to leave our home. It had formed and come down less than 10 miles from us and there had not been enough time for it to be reported and warnings to go out.
I watched the weather men as they were giving and getting these reports. Greensburg had plenty, plently of warning. However; I understood from the coffee shop that one family was in the basement, the toronado blew the house away and put a car in the basement hitting one person. So, shelter did the best it could. This tornado will probably be rated the highest rate, but I can't remember what that is.
We have some good friends that live at Greensburg, Paul and Barbara (Schouten) Dean. We were able to get ahold of Paul's brother today, Paul and Barbara are not injured but did lose everything.
Most media I've seen is saying EF-4 on the Greensburg tornado.
E stands for Enhanced and F for Fujita, a meterologist who developed the scale in the 60's.
The original scale was just called the Fujita scale and went from F-0 to F-5.
The tornado that went through Newcastle, OK and into the southwest side of OKC a few years ago was off the scale, so the weather service adjusted the scale to account for the absolute monsters, thus what might have been an F-5 in years past, now may be called an EF-4.
Regardless, when a tornado of this magnitude goes through, you have to be below ground to even have a chance of survival.
Our own member, Sherri aka Sadie, is Teresa's sister. Sherri works for the federal farm offices and her office was in Greensburg. Her office is gone. She and her husband, Curt, live in Mullinsville, which is west of Greensburg.
Sherri has a very good friend that lives in Greensburg. This couple lost their home. They will be staying with Curt and Sherri for the time being. This is such a dreadful, dreadful tragedy for everyone in that community and their friends and families. An entire town gone.
Remember when the tornado hit Parsons a few years ago. That tornado took out a town called Franklin. Wiped the entire town off the face of the earth.
Please pray for these people as they try to put their lives back together. Please pray for the emergency workers, rescue workers, and all involved as this tragedy also affects their lives.
I know I have been through there on my back and forth to Colorado when I was younger. Is Greensburg the town that has the worlds largest well? So very sad. I bet they will pull together
and put that town back together.
There is a qualifier.
It is home of the world's largest hand dug well.
Talked to my sis a while ago.
Their friends, Danna and Pat are living with them and probably will have to for for quite a long time.
They were in the basement, but the upper levels caved in. Pat threw himself on top of his wife Donna and they both crawled to the little room that she had her Christmas stuff in. After it passed, they had to knock a hole into the outside and yelled and neighbors came and dug them out. They were very very lucky to not have been hurt.
But they lost almost everything. Their old dog got blown3 blocks away .. 3 pastures away and was found today.. alive! Sherri said that they took chainsaws and they sawed their way into the wall of the house to get kind of where they could dig through some rubble. She found a picture of their boys when they were little and a trophy of one of the boys and a few dishes. They got a few of the clothes that were strewn around.. They managed to dig around where the bathroom area was and actually found some of their medicines. But that is about it for now. They had an 8:00 curfew on the town. No one was able to get on or go through after that.
They will go tomorrow and try to dig through more. Pat has no idea where his truck is. It is totally gone.
Sherri's said they are going to try to set up the work office in Kiowa county, but nothing is planned for sure. They are all just pretty shell shocked...
Sis said that everything but the underground part of the well is gone and that the water tower looked like someone had taken a twig and snapped it with their fingers.
She took lots of pictures so when she sends them to me, I will post them on here.
We are in Garnett right now and this weekend, filming cowboy action shooting events for
Down Range. TV and CasCity.com, and right now it looks like we are getting closer to having some nasty weather.
I hope not, as I hate being in a motel and not home when stuff like this is around me.
On another thread of interest in this area, the first report wasn't entirely accurate, for which the reporter apologized. I do not find any need for the apology. We can only report what we hear unless we happen to be an eyewitness. It is good that we get some kind of a report as soon as possible. We can sort out the truth later. So, you people that talk to someone involved in the tornado or have talked to someone that was there, please share with us. Your report will be so much better than what we are getting thru the media.
Folks, I am seeing red, and am on my soapbox!!!!!!!!! After reading this story about 4 Fort Riley soldier raiding and looting, and 2 Red Cross impersonators stealing, and taking advantage of those folks who just lost about everything, it's too-o-o-o-o bad that I'm not the judge!!!!! I think they should be severely punished.......and not just some light tap on the wrist, saying "Naughty boy, you shouldn't do that." Have those looters/thieves no shame?
http://www/kake.com/home/headlines/7360861.html Well, I just tried this and it doesn't want to work----(so what's new?) I've put this URL in Google and it worked fine!! Anyway, if you will go to KAKE.com and read the headlines about the Fort Riley soldiers looting and the Red Cross impersonators, that should pretty well cover it.
But what is good is that those people did get arrested and are in jail in Pratt County. Hurrah for good law enforcement during this trying time in Greensburg.
I talked to Sherri again yesterday evening -- as we have talked every day since this terrible storm. She was pretty upset from the actions of the TV news media --- they are IN THE WAY of those that are trying to gather what is left of their posessions - and showing the same things on their news channels every day - and this is what really upset her----They are eating ALL OF THEIR MEALS at the Red Cross center --- don't you think they could provide their own food and water - and not take from those that have no way to fix any food for themselves????
Or---- maybe put down their microphones and put on a pair of gloves and offer some help?
I realize they show what is important so all can be informed -- but there is nothing new to show --- so they need to move over and let those that have their lives to put back together have the space to do so.
I "lifted" this from the Dodge City Daily Globe webpage I think it shows the spirit and courage of majority of the folks I have met since moving to the mid-west and not the whiney "why me" attitude of some other parts of the nation
Bright side of a tragedy
By Walter Jones
Dodge City Daily Globe
Jason Hunter/The Topeka Capital-Journal
GREENSBURG – Many of the people of Greensburg are determined not to let a wind storm blow away their sense of humor, as exhibited around town many ways:
% The reason is simple for Malena Starr to have a muddy rug spread on her front lawn in the only area cleared of rubble.
"Want to keep looking like a home," she explains.
Besides, she was celebrating the hog in the freezer that was found in good order – good news since she had just bought it last Wednesday.
% Jane Lang just bought a house in Greensburg last Wednesday. Her good news is that she hadn't even moved in. Though her barn is lost, the house is in good shape, she said.
"Hopefully, we'll be in the house soon so we can open it up for other folks," she said.
None of those "other folks" are people she knows.
Lang picked her Greensburg home by seeing it online from her Santa Ana, Calif., residence while she was looking for an affordable place to retire. She didn't know what a storm siren was when she heard it Friday night.
% The most boring job could belong to Bryan Chestnut, a security guard with the Wackenhut company hired to protect a State Farm claims trailer.
"So far, everybody's been real friendly," he said, as compared to the verbal abuse he encountered in Slidell, La., after Hurricane Katrina. "You can't really fault them. I'd be upset, too, if I lost everything."
Claims adjuster Linda Sharp has been to enough natural disasters to know that the real tension usually comes when homeowners are allowed to return to their property and see in daylight how much they have lost. Walking through Greensburg brought a tear to her own eyes, she said.
But the difficult encounters she had braced for never came.
"They've been relatively calm," she said. "... I thought once they saw it they would be emotional."
% The postal inspectors sifting through rubble at the Greensburg Post Office were so careful to safeguard every letter that they even saved each metal letter that had formed the sign embedded in the building's brick front wall.
% Meteorology may be a mystery to some, but Traza Rickey has an explanation for her hometown's devastation.
"People are making jokes that the reason the storm came is because Greensburg put in a liquor store," she said, "... and the funny thing, is it's still standing."
% Odd signs have turned up everywhere, like "for sale, new sky lights, newly remodeled" at one house, or "student driver" resting on the back of a new car half buried under a storefront. One demolished truck had spray painted across the tailgate "free for a good home." And a downtown store had an old sign propped in the display window, "10% off Sale -- glassware."
% Mullinville Red Cross volunteer Paula Watson choked up as she recounted the outpouring of charity. "My daughter said, 'There are people who hate each other who are hugging.'"
It's crazy how something like this can bring people together. Everytime I see the victims on tv they're smiling and seem happy. I don't think I could ever be that strong if something like that happened to me.