GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) - Tornadoes killed at least seven people and leveled most of this southwest Kansas town, a state official said Saturday. Rescuers with dogs searched door to door for survivors.
The dead include six in Kiowa County, where Greensburg is located, and one in nearby Stafford County, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department.
The tornado that struck Greensburg late Friday damaged about 90 percent of the town about 110 miles west of Wichita, City Administrator Steve Hewitt said Saturday.
Dazed residents walked the streets, looking for loved ones and taking in the sight of crumbled buildings and smashed cars in the town of some 1,600 people.
Much of downtown was destroyed, along with City Hall, the high school and the junior high school, Hewitt said.
"I don't think we have a business left downtown," he said. A mandatory evacuation was ordered, he said.
Emergency personnel and search and rescue teams raced to Greensburg from throughout southwest Kansas. Trained dogs accompanied law enforcement officers who searched house to house for anyone trapped or injured.
"There is still a possibility we do not have all of the people accounted for in that town," Watson said. "That is something we will be working feverishly to do over the next several hours."
Hewitt said at least 50 people had been taken to hospitals, 16 in critical condition, but said exact numbers were impossible to come by. Rescuers pulled about 30 people from the basement of a partially collapsed hospital early Saturday, but most of them had minor injuries, Watson said.
A storm front spawned tornadoes along a line stretching northeast from Greensburg through central Kansas. Three small tornadoes also touched down Friday in rural southwestern Illinois, but officials said there were no reports of injury or damage. Two tornadoes struck in Oklahoma, damaging some structures but injuring no one, officials said.
Larry Ruthi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Dodge City, said the storm system spawned at least three significant tornadoes, including the one that hit Greensburg. He said there were likely other smaller twisters.
The weather service described the tornado that struck Greensburg as a "wedge," an especially broad and tall formation. Frederick Kruse of the weather service's Dodge City office said there were initial reports that the tornado was at least three-quarters of a mile wide on the ground.
Watson said the state fire marshal's office dispatched hazardous materials teams because railroad cars in Kiowa County had overturned. She said the National Guard was sending 40 troops to provide security around Greensburg.
Katie White said she was driving through town and pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store when she heard the warning. She said the store's owner pulled her and about 15 other people into the store's cooler. When they emerged, White said, the building around them had collapsed.
School buses lined up to take people to the nearby town of Haviland, where the Red Cross opened shelters at Haviland High School and Barclay College.
"We have more than 300 people in shelters in Haviland," Watson said. "We have another 300 en route to take advantage of those shelters, and we anticipate that number to grow."
At the high school, the Rev. Gene McIntosh described how he huddled with his family in the parsonage of Greensburg's United Methodist Church as the tornado roared overhead. McIntosh said sofa cushions protected his 11-year-old son and the boy's friend from falling debris.
"There was a lot of praying down there," McIntosh said.
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
tls (anonymous) says…
Thank you for keeping us in NE Kansas up-to-date as we may know of friends/relatives in the Greensburg area.
Machiavelli_mania (anonymous) says…
I wonder if the large meteor made it thru the storm.
I wonder if the world's largest hand-dug well was a haven from the storm for some.
Now kiowa country cops, who have a reputation for catching speeders, will step-up their ticketing to pay for reconstruction. Don't think I will venture to drive on 54 for a while. At least not in that area.
I wonder if FEMA will come thru for Greensburg, for that little town is so sadly riddled with Bush voters. I doubt FEMA makes an effort to help rebuild that little one traffic-light town. AND then there will be less Bush or GOP voters in Greensburg. Nature sure has a way of ironing out political kinks (And Bush one hell of a political kink).
Machiavelli_mania (anonymous) says…
I know and love people in Greensburg. Will be going there with money soon.
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
I'm from Greensburg. I only know what is going on through the www.kwch.com live feed.
http://www.kwch.com/global/video/popu... Streaming Coverage&at1=News&LiveURITitle=Live%20Streaming%20Coverage&LaunchPageAdTag=News&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.kwch.com/&rnd=43423440
Obviously, everything is gone. Phone, cellular, electric, gas, water: all out. I'm trying to find out more info on folks through the Red Cross website. The town has been evacuated so I'm not going to leave until I know I can do something. Twiddling my thumbs 10 miles away from work is not something I'm good at. From the air shots I can tell the 2 houses I grew up in are gone, church, schools, hospital, fire department, pretty much everything.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
If people don't play nice here today.....grr. TOB's home town.
The big well hole is there, but nothing else. It is just unbelievable disaster. I looked at the overheads and if the elevators weren't still standing, I'd have no idea which part of town they were showing. And I've been there hundreds of times.
shorttrees (anonymous) says…
My folks and family are still out in the area and Mom called about 11 last night with the news (I joke to the kids that the whole of Western KS is a "small town" and news travels fast). My thoughts and prayers are with the devastated. It was a pretty town, and a regular stop to and from Wichita on all family drives.
No word yet on how badly Macksville, Great Bend, Ellinwood, Claflin and Ellsworth got hit.
Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
I heard about this last night around 8pm. I guess LJW's policy about not working on the weekend evenings still hold strong.
Tychoman (anonymous) says…
Machiavelli, you can't be serious. Politics after a natural disaster? What the hell is this country coming to?
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
Here are some pictures.
http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/0...
#4 is a front page type of photo. That's the water tower that sits beside the Big Well.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
I've got to get one of Ragingbears TV or radios, since she heard about a tornado at 8 pm which didn't strike Greensburg until 9:45 pm.
..
Pray for the all the families in Kiowa County. Nobody will be unaffected.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
Thanks for the links Bob. .......truly beyond comprehension.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
Looks like weather is kicking up again out there.... and Lawrence is just outside of a new watch box. This could happen to anywhere in the state. Be nice and remember your neighbors in SW Kansas.
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
Yeah, I was wondering about that. I got a call at 9:30 from my mom because she found out one of my best friend's parent's farm was gone. Both houses, all the sheds, silos, garage, machinery, all gone. They lived about 12 miles south of Greensburg. We had no idea at that time if there was even a tornado anymore and we weren't as scared knowing that tornados rarely go that far. This was not a normal tornado. Best I can figure from the track maps is that it went at least 50 miles if not 60 assuming the whole track was the same tornado.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
Bob, I won't be surprised that Sunday's paper will have lots! of farmsteads and a few hundred irrigation systems wiped out too both south and far north. As you know, this was not a normal tornado/system. I am from SW Ks too, but farther west.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
And from the time of day and scope of damage, I am surprised that more did not lose their life.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
One track-map:
http://www.kansas.com/static/maps/050...
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
Just got a call from a storm chaser buddy... There is a huge wall cloud between Protection and Coldwater. Heading NE or N/NE. I'd guess an estimate would be 25 - 35 miles SW of Greensburg. I heard the one last night started north of Protection but the map oldgoof posted shows it starting quite a bit North of there. Anyhow, roughly where the one went through last night. Let's hope this doesn't result in another tornado.
...
Just listening on the tv feed... they are reporting funnel clouds lowering and raising in the same area.
tuschkahouma (anonymous) says…
It's funny, the people with their heads in the sand want them to stay that way. Reaction time
and coordinating if not done right pretty much winds up at the foot of a ruling political
establishment, regardless of the party. Machiavelli is right. This part of Kansas has wanted
to break away from the rest of Kansas before because they felt they weren't getting their
fair share of tax spending by the State of Kansas. These are states rights people, meaning
they're either anti-Democrat or anti-Government, or both.
I feel for these people. A family member of mine is a Minister who has served churches in towns
the size of Greensburg over much of eastern Kansas. One of his church communities was hit
by an F3 tornado on May 8, 2003, the same night as the Lawrence storm. Fifteen members
of this family member's church lost their homes to a tornado that stayed on the ground for
almost 80 miles. Not much was made of this in the papers. FEMA was a photo opportunity
joke, and this family member spent many days helping farmers clean metal debris out of their
fields while the BUSH administration stated that these Yates Center area farms weren't businesses for damage purposes!. These farmers were extremely resilient people. It just
made one wonder why they'd continually vote for people that hurt them economically. My
grandparents lost their home in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Katrina, and FEMA was a joke there.
I told this to Michael Brown a couple weeks ago at the Dole Center. People can call out
people for seeing the obvious, but who is getting hoodwinked here?
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
tuschkahouma writes: "This part of Kansas has wanted to break away from the rest of Kansas"
..
Good grief, if you and Machiavelli are going to write polemics, at least get your geography and facts straight. You are wrong by over 100 miles...and twenty years.
..
yea, wait long enough and the next great flood and swarm of locusts are going to get to Lawrence too. Good grief.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
I have went by Greensburg a couple of times, and the town helped my family out once in a scary situation. I read the pages of the Wichita news stations on a daily basis and was very concerned when I watched the highlights on Kake news.
I hope the severe weather of today misses the area. I haven't read anything about Bucklin, and I hope the town was missed by the severe weather.
Along with Greensburg, Bucklin holds a special place in my heart.
I hope everyone donates what they can to the Red Cross Disaster relief to help out, or the organization of their choice.
TOB - I hope your family is fine, and everyone you know found safe.
Will check back later to read of news.
ScottyMac (anonymous) says…
oldgoof wrote: "I've got to get one of Ragingbears TV or radios, since she heard about a tornado at 8 pm which didn't strike Greensburg until 9:45 pm."
Well, the tornado first touched ground near Protection, which is about 40 miles southwest of Greensburg. If the storm travelled at 20 mph, that means it would have taken about two hours for it hit Greensburg.
The advance warning (the sirens were sounded in Greensburg at 9:25) probably saved many, many lives.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
Does Bucklin still have their hospital with their senior citizen home? They did in the mid 70's.
Isn't Bucklin close to Greensburg?
Tychoman (anonymous) says…
Enough with the politics already! This is idiocy!
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
I haven't heard what the tornado was on the fujita scale, but looking at pictures from the devastation, it must have been a 5
The_Original_Bob (anonymous) says…
Kiowa County is under another Tornado Warning. 6 miles South of Greensburg.
Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
Check Fark.Com Link was there rather early last night about the storm.
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
I hope it misses it and misses the nearby towns where the evacuees went.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
This is just enough already. Eight tornadoes on the ground around there. It's all starting near Ashland but building as it goes north. And there is one near Shattuck Oklahoma where it all started last night. My family lives there too, as well as Ashland.
This is just so hard to believe. TOB, on your pictures, one of the pictures says it is US 54 and Main. Is/Was the building on the right of the picture Fleeners? It was on the northwest corner?
OMG.
Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
Ariel photos of Greenburg:
http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/0...
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
I just read of a report of a tornado briefly touching near Haviland, where many of the Greensburg residents are in shelters. I can't imagine going through it once, let alone twice.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
Original Bob,
you and I have gone back and forth for a while. I just want to tell you how sorry your childhood homes were whiped out. and, your childhood familiar is all gone.
God bless all the residents and those who care for them. I read not all residents were accounted for. has that changed by now?
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
Tuschie should apologize, then wash her mouth with SOAP! what will she say when Lawrence gets hit next? "oh, that neighborhood wasn't liberal enough?"
she is obviously suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome to bring it into such a thread as this! she's an example of what I've been writing about: blood thirsty liberals. I'm serious about her apology and the mouth soaping should be confirmed by another poster, as she is really guilty here.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
No gnome, there are still people possibly buried, but they've had to stop looking because of new tornadoes and hail and windy conditions. 73 tornadoes so far in Kansas today. And it's all been in the same track as last night. You'd think we tivo'd the weather last night and are playing it again, sans Greensburg.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
YIKES! been doin' other stuff couldn't follow the live feed. the longer those people are trapped more likely they die of wounds, shock, exposure. yes, I'm aware the storms are replaying themselves that area, two in that county today I heard. hearing the boomers here now. gnomedog is scared as usual telling me this could be bad. last time was the microburst.
listening to warnings near Manhattan, emporia, etc. also, the county west of shawnee Co...don't ask me to accurately spell wabunsee (sp?).
its coming our way. just wonder what tuschie will say if lawrence gets hit. "oh, that neighborhood voted for the SLT." sheeeesh.
oldgoof (anonymous) says…
Tonights storms are on an amazingly similar storm path. This has to be extremely unusual. Flooding will be an issue tomorrow.
kawryan (anonymous) says…
Oh good, now there is news about the storm on LJWdotCom. I've been getting my updates from Le Monde and Pravada for the last 24 hours.
kawryan (anonymous) says…
I wonder if you'll get an award for your coverage
mom_of_three (anonymous) says…
TOB,
Please give an update when you have a chance. The Wichita stations talk of tornados near Greensburg and Haviland, but nothing about damage.
Once again, I hope your family and friends are alright. They are comparing the damage to the 1991 Andover tornado.
Sigmund (anonymous) says…
By the way, for the idiots who regularly let their prejudice of those who live in Western Kansas overwhelm any sense of decency, State Rep. Dennis McKinney (democrat), the Kansas House minority leader, said he and his daughter hid in the basement while the storm destroyed his home.
http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-h... I swear, each and every day on the LJW forums I find a new reason to despise the ignorant Lawrence Looney Left.
olmsted78 (anonymous) says…
was wondering about bucklin and clark co. myself....heart goes out to greensburg and surrounding areas that caught this one right on the chin.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
Sounds like Bucklin and Clark County are OK. Things stirred up there but developed as they moved north. Still hard to believe Greensburg is leveled.
TOB? Anything new?
Tychoman (anonymous) says…
Once again, knock off the politics, RT and sigmund.
Sigmund (anonymous) says…
MM ignorance and vile needed to be responded to.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
Can you believe they're in another tornado watch? Three days in a row.
smitty (anonymous) says…
from the ch49 link:
Fort Riley soldiers arrested for looting in tornado aftermath
Story by Associated Press
5:47 p.m. Sunday, May 6, 2007
Greensburg, KS - Four Fort Riley soldiers and a reserve police officer were arrested Sunday for looting cigarettes and alcohol from a store in Greensburg.
Major General Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general, said the soldiers and reserve police officer were not part of any official detachment.
Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the adjutant general's office, said the five were arrested at a Dillon's supermarket. They and were being held at the Pratt County Jail without bond. She said all five were in uniform, so police allowed them to come and go freely despite a curfew in the town. Watson said the officer was from a central Kansas community, but she was not sure which town.
In a separate incident, two people wearing Red Cross jackets who were not members of the Red Cross were arrested for looting. Watson said she did not have any additional details.
Gootsie (anonymous) says…
Hawk, take your agenda somewhere else, please. This isn't about you.
smitty (anonymous) says…
Please don't feed the monkeys.