Every church was destroyed, the hospital roof collapsed and every business on the town’s main thoroughfare was demolished in Friday night’s tornado that nearly wiped the small town of Greensburg off the map.

Stephanie White, Greensburg senior and her brother Zach, freshman, were in Lawrence when they first heard that severe weather was headed for their hometown. Panic quickly followed after their mother, who was in Salina, was unable to contact their father and younger brother. It was an hour and a half before the phone lines cooperated and their father could confirm that they were waiting nervously in the basement under the staircase.

“My brother said it sounded like a freight train was going over our house because it was so loud,” Zach said. “They tried to go up the stairs a little but it was so cold and the winds were so strong inside the house they thought the roof was off.”

Stephanie said having 24-hour news coverage on her small hometown, seeing the images shown and hearing first-hand accounts by friends who lived it made the situation seem horrific, but not being there made it all surreal.

“Everything is gone,” she said. “It looks like a landfill. I usually don’t know what they’re showing because it’s unrecognizable. And I lived there for 18 years.”

Zach said he hadn’t watched the news a lot, but he did watch CNN’s helicopter coverage.

“The only thing I recognized was one bank and the Quik Shop because the sign was on the ground,” he said. “The school I went to you can hardly make out the brick building.”

The White family house, located in the country a mile north of Greensburg, is still standing with little damage other than broken windows and a battered shed, barn and garage.

“Everyone I know of that lives in town, their houses are destroyed,” Zach said.

Stephanie said the town was so tightly knit that she recognized all of the faces she saw on the news and knew every resident who was killed in the storm. The Associated Press reported that at least eight people in Greensburg were killed in the storm.

“I know who is alive because of who I see in the shelters in the news,” she said. “It’s hard to contact anyone because calls drop and cut out. It makes it a guessing game.”

Even through the tremendous amount of destruction that the tornado brought, Zach said it was neat to see friends away from Greensburg at various colleges who all wanted to go back to do what they could to help.

Zach, Stephanie and Kelly McKinney, Greensburg freshman, left Saturday morning at around 6 a.m. to meet other Greensburg students in Manhattan. By the time they had reached Emporia, Zach and Stephanie’s mother called and told them to turn around.

“She told us they were under another tornado watch, and we wouldn’t be allowed in on the highways,” Stephanie said.

The three tentatively plan to travel home Wednesday, pending road conditions and whether Greensburg is open.

McKinney was also in Lawrence when she heard bad weather was headed to her hometown. She traveled to Haviland, a neighboring town 10 miles east of Greensburg, Saturday after the trip with the Whites failed. Shelters have been set up in Haviland, but McKinney is staying with relatives.

McKinney traveled to her Greensburg house Sunday with family to see the damage. They were able to see the house because it was located south of Greensburg where traffic was still moving. Everything but the home’s kitchen sink and part of a counter was destroyed.

“The house is gone,” McKinney said. “It looks like someone put the whole town in a box and just shook it up. There is random stuff strewn everywhere.”

McKinney’s mother was mostly worried about her crystal and China. Amazingly, the China cabinet it was stored in was turned on its front with both sides torn off but only a few pieces of the dishes were broken. They also recovered photo albums.

“We also found my sister’s purse and graduation dress that she just bought,” McKinney said. “It still has the tags on it but is just really dirty.”

McKinney said the only way they knew how to get around was the town’s grain elevator that was among the few buildings still standing.

“When you see pictures it doesn’t show the magnitude of what happened,” she said. “It’s just unbelievable. It’s flattened.”

McKinney said the lives of 28 Greensburg students and six adults were saved because of a trip to Salina for state forensics. McKinney’s mother was one of the adults.

“It’s just really cool that many people didn’t have to be there when it happened,” McKinney said. “A lot of people should have died and didn’t.”

McKinney said she planned to return to Lawrence Tuesday evening to return to classes and study for finals.

The Red Cross estimated that 90 percent of the city was destroyed or heavily damaged. More than 60 people were injured and the Red Cross reported that at least 400 residents were taken to shelters in schools and other facilities in nearby towns.

Kansan staff writer Bethany Bunch can be contacted at bbunch@kansan.com.

— Edited by Carissa Pedigo