Wednesday, June 20, 2007
University students returned to Greensburg two weeks after an F5 tornado destroyed their hometown May 4.
With the town still barely operable a month later, the students are experiencing a different summer than they anticipated. The reality of the extent of the destruction is still sinking in.
“I’ve been living the last three months in a disaster area,” Zach White, sophomore, said. “It’s so hard to grasp and accept what has happened. After a while, it’s numbing.”
Zach’s sister, Stephanie, a KU graduate student, said only five percent of the houses in Greensburg remained livable after the storm. After graduation Stephanie visited home for a week. At first, she said she felt disoriented at the sight.
The Whites’ house suffered window, siding and roof damage but the destruction did not force the family to relocate. It is one of 10 houses currently livable with working electricity, sewer and water systems. Though rebuilding of homes and businesses might begin as early as July, a lot must be accomplished before actual reconstruction starts.
Most Greensburg residents had no other option but to move because of the severe property damage.
“There is so much debris that when the town is rebuilt it will be farther south than it was before,” Stephanie said. “There is so much glass and metal all over the place that remaining facilities, like the football field, won’t be safe for use. It’s like starting from zero.”
Zach said he still meets with friends from his hometown but it’s difficult with them scattered to towns like Wichita, Pratt and Coldwater as much as two hours away.
Kelly McKinney, junior, said her family relocated to Coldwater, 30 miles south of Greensburg.
Kelly said the tornado tore down her house’s outer walls and left no trace of any interior walls except for those of two bathrooms.
The family recovered only a few items: a couch, a chair and a refrigerator. Items found in their basement were mostly unusable because of water damage and everything upstairs was completely gone, Kelly said.
The Whites plan to return to Greensburg in October or November and build a new house on the foundation of their old one.
The students are unsure of Greensburg’s future.
“Greensburg will never be normal in the aspect of what it was before,” Kelly said. “But eventually it will get back on its feet and I hope to see it grow.”
Greensburg still has a 10 p.m. curfew, Stephanie said, because there are still no streetlights or storm shelters. The rebuilding of Greensburg depends on the reconstruction of U.S. Route 54, a major highway that ran through the town.
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