Tornado Wipes Out Greenburg, Kansas

[GrnMarvl14]

Original source.

A powerful tornado killed at least six people as it wiped out Greensburg, Kansas, on Friday night, emergency official Sharon Watson said Saturday.

A seventh person died in Stafford County, about 30 miles away, according to Watson, of the Kansas Emergency Management Agency.

The storm destroyed or seriously damaged about 90 percent of the rural town, the American Red Cross said. Greensburg has about 1,600 residents and is located about 110 miles west of Wichita.

The twister demolished the central business district, city hall and a high school, but the courthouse remained standing, witnesses said.

"There's just nothing left in a lot of these areas," said Sgt. Ron Knoefel of the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Greensburg was evacuated as rescuers continued to search for victims, City Administrator Steve Hewitt told CNN affiliate KSN.

"We will not reopen the town until we know it's safe for the residents to come back," Hewitt said.

According to the National Weather Service, central Kansas may face more severe weather Saturday afternoon into the overnight hours.

The Kiowa County Memorial Hospital partially collapsed, trapping 30 people who were later rescued with minor injuries, according to Watson.

About 55 people who were injured by the storm in Greensburg were driven 50 miles east to Pratt Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to hospital spokeswoman Kim Stivers. Some of them were transferred to other hospitals.

Storm chaser Darin Brunin, who followed the tornado into Greensburg, told CNN it appeared to be at least a mile wide and relatively slow.

"A big tornado like that, that moves slower, it can tend to do a lot more damage because it's over an area for a longer amount of time," he said.

The National Weather Service described the tornado as a "wedge," a very wide, tall twister, and said it had received reports that the tornado was at least three quarters of a mile wide, The Associated Press reported.

"As we approached Greensburg ... it was really a scene of shock, you know, disbelief," Brunin said. "There were people walking on the highway just in shock, not even knowing really what had happened."

"Before we got to Greensburg, there were a herd of cows on the highway that were severely injured," he said. "It wasn't a pleasant sight to see at all -- very horrible."

Katie White told AP she was driving through Greensburg when she heard the tornado warning. She drove into a convenience store parking lot and the store owner pulled her and a dozen other people into a large walk-in freezer for safety, the AP said.

When they came out, White said, the store was gone.

Another storm chaser, Marty Logan, took a dramatic photo of a tornado backlit by a burst of lightning south of Greensburg. He estimated that it was at least a half-mile wide. Two smaller tornadoes were following to the right of the larger twister as they swept northward into Greensburg, he said.

The Red Cross was using school and charter buses to transport hundreds of Greensburg residents about 10 miles east to shelters opened in Haviland, Kansas, at a high school and a college, Watson said.

About 100 Red Cross officials rushed to the town. Some of the volunteers planned to work with the Federal Emergency Medical Agency "to assess how many families were affected and to what extent, and then we'll have a better picture of what we're looking at," Red Cross spokeswoman Andrea Anglin said.

The Kansas National Guard dispatched 40 troops to Greensburg to help with security, and hazardous materials teams have also been sent to look at several overturned rail cars, Watson said.

Slight update to this: They're now saying nine people were killed. And earlier they had the number of injured at 63, so I assume that number dropped to the 55 mentioned in the story. And...severe storms have already started up in the Oklahoma panhandle (and the counties east of the panhandle), slightly west of where they started yesterday (and then tracked into Kansas, eventually doing this damage).

An entire town (well, 90%) wiped out and more severe weather on the way (though they're saying the tornado risk is SLIGHTLY lower, and wind and hail will be the biggest threats). May is...not a good time for this part of the country.

 

[baltor85]

That's really sad. My home state, Colorado, has been under tornado and thunderstorm warnings non - stop for the past three days.

 

[Demonic Angel]

I live 45 minutes northeast of Greensburg, We'd be threatened with about 6 tornados within 8 miles of us Saturday and about 4 Friday, the part that sucked though was most of the high school was on the band trip so there was alot of panicking trying to get ahold of people at home and so many power lines were down that quite a few couldn't.

 

[Rushi-san]

Oh my, that is so tragic. I feel for the victims of the storm. I used to live in Kansas about eight/nine years ago. Luckily I didn't get involved in too many tornadoes while I was living there. I lived thirty minutes towards Wichita(El Dorado). It looks like this happened the Central part of Kansas...man...tornadoes are so dangerous. I don't like them.

I hope everyone will get to go home once they get everything together.