Greensburg, Kansas Residents Return To Homes Destroyed By Tornado

Monday, May 7th 2007, 7:01 am

By: News On 6

GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) _ Residents of this tornado-ravaged community were being allowed back home Monday to sift through their wrecked homes, giving rescuers a better idea of whether any of the people still missing might be buried somewhere under the rubble.

Since the tornado hit Friday night, emergency responders have had little indication of how many people in this central Kansas town of 1,500 may be safely staying with friends or relatives, rather than in shelters.

``We've been over the town twice now _ all of our partners around the state, the experts from cities with technical search-and-rescue,'' Maj. Gen. Todd Bunting, the state's adjutant general, told CNN Monday morning. ``We've done everything we can.

``Some of this rubble is 20, 30 feet deep. That's where we've spent all our efforts, and we'll do it again today.''

Only residents will be allowed back into town at 8 a.m. Law enforcement officials will be checking identification and compiling a list of people whose whereabouts still haven't been determined. Residents must leave again by 6 p.m.

By mid-morning, the sun was starting to break through, interrupting nearly three days of constant rain and overcast. A line of vehicles nearly two miles long snaked outside the city limits on U.S. 54. Residents, power crews from other cities and hazardous materials workers were all waiting to get in.

A scene near downtown typified the misery residents were experiencing in their grim march back to town. A woman supported by two other women as they walked along U.S. 54 had to stop frequently, breaking down in sobs.

Bunting said he believed everyone had been found, but fresh search and rescue dogs were brought in Monday from Missouri as the hunt for possible survivors and bodies continues across a landscape dotted with mounds of debris, some as deep as 30 feet.

At least 10 people are known dead from weekend storms _ eight in the Greensburg area and two others elsewhere in Kansas state officials said.

Annette Gasten, a paramedic from Olathe, and her German shepherd dog, Greta, spent Sunday searching. She was among of six handlers and dogs from the Kansas Search and Rescue Dog Association that joined the search effort.

No one was found Sunday in the debris.

``Even though I have been to other disasters, this one was a lot worse _ the amount of damage,'' Gasten said. ``It is such a large area that was destroyed that it made it difficult'' to search.

Her dog, which is trained to indicate both live and dead victims, whined at a couple of locations to indicate an area of interest, but further searches found nothing, Gasten said.

On Monday, Federal Emergency Management Agency director R. David Paulison was scheduled to join city and state officials in a tour of Greensburg.

City Administrator Steve Hewitt said his job Monday would be to get city government working again. He said he needed to find employees, get purchase orders out, pay employees and bills _ in short, create commerce again in Greensburg.

``Get government going _ that is our No. 1 priority,'' Hewitt said.

School superintendent Darin Headrick 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.

``Our teachers will have jobs; our kids will have classrooms to attend,'' he promised. ``This is going to be a huge hurdle for people to overcome, but it will also be a huge opportunity.''

The National Weather Service classified the Friday night tornado as an enhanced F-5, the highest category on its scale. The weather service said it had wind estimated at 205 mph, and carved a track 1.7 miles wide and 22 miles long. The last tornado that strong killed 36 people in Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999, the weather service said.

Tree trunks stood bare in Greensburg, stripped of most of their branches. All the churches were destroyed. Every business on Main Street was demolished, and the town's fire engines were crushed.

The massive concrete silos of a grain elevator towered over the flattened expanse of what was left of the town. City officials estimate as much as 95 percent of the town was destroyed.

On Sunday, the weather service posted tornado warnings during the afternoon for parts of Kansas and Oklahoma, and severe thunderstorm warnings were extended across parts of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

FEMA regional administrator Dick Hainjew said the agency was bringing in travel trailers to house some of the town's residents. There was no indication when people would be able to move into the trailers because the area was choked with debris and the town had no clean water.

President Bush declared parts of Kansas a disaster area, freeing up federal money to aid in recovery.

``There's a certain spirit in the Midwest of our country, a pioneer spirit that still exists, and I'm confident this community will be rebuilt,'' Bush said.

Some residents were less optimistic.

``If I hear that people are going stay and we're 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.''

Scott Spark, an insurance agent and 13-year resident of Greensburg, hauled papers out of his wrecked office near downtown Monday. He had already been to his destroyed home.

``I could probably have salvaged some more stuff if I had been able to get back, but I understand how it is,'' Spark said. ``I mean, they were still having tornadoes last night. I understand they want everybody to be safe.''

In what was left of a garage next to his office, Spark's blue Ford Mustang that he races on weekends sat with its back windows broken out but looking otherwise in good shape.

``I guess the engine's probably all right,'' Spark said. ``I got some racing buddies who want to come down and get the car, but there's kind of more important things going on right now.''

The Greensburg twister late Friday was part of a storm front that also spawned tornadoes in parts of Illinois, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Nebraska, though most damage elsewhere was minimal, officials said.