OT - Greensburg, Kansas Tornado

MeteoriteGuy

Hello all,

I live in Wichita, Kansas, about 60 miles from Greensburg, Kansas where a tornado totally destroyed a town last night.

I am a fairly active person in the meteorite community and the following is some of postings on a board the last day....



MARK BOSTICK
Sat May 5 00:45:30 EDT 2007

Greensburg, Kansas was hit with a tornado about an hour ago. There is seven
miles of damage thrown around highway 54, around the downtown district. The
hotal/diner is gone, the water tower is gone, the Big Well where the 1,000
lb. Brenham meteorite is/was located was hit....along with all the buildings
around it. The main farming dealer lot was destroyed. Basically everything
that was anything in Greensburg was hit.

I hope our Greensburg neighbors make it through the night, and that the
meteorite is intact.

This is pretty bad, glad I don't chase them anymore.

Mark


MARK BOSTICK thebigcollector at msn.com
Sat May 5 11:43:41 EDT 2007

Steve asked me to forward the following for him.


Mark



Hello List,

As many of you know, with my recoveries at the Brenham site, I bought a
house in Greensburg, Kansas a while back as a location to base my field
work
from. I got a call last night from my brother in Wichita wanting to be
sure I
wasn't at my house in Greensburg, when the news of the tornado hit. This
last
week I was in Iowa on a hunt, and I was planning to return to Kansas
yesterday. At the last minute I decided to return to Arkansas first
instead of going
straight back to Kansas.

Reports are that 100% of Greensburg is damaged, and 70%+ of the buildings
are destroyed, so I am expecting my home to be gone.

Of course I have dozens of close friends in and around Greensburg. And my
heart and prayers go out to them. The uncertainty of their well being as
well
as the conditions of their homes is on the forefront of my mind.

The town is evacuated now, but I plan to get back up there as soon as I can
this week.

Yesterday Greensburg's claim to fame was the world's largest hand dug well,
and the 1,000 pound Brenham Meteorite they had on display. This morning it
is "the Kansas town that got wiped off the map." It is amazing what can
change in one night.

It is a reminder to all of us what is really important in life.

More news when I get it.

Steve Arnold




MARK BOSTICK thebigcollector at msn.com
Sat May 5 04:10:13 EDT 2007

The damage total is not known, no power in the region is making
communication hard, but the storm has finally died down. It had a rain
jacket all around it so it could not be seen well. No one can know how many
torandos it spawned.

Greensburg took the majority of the damage. Dozens and dozens of homes where
totally destroyed, about 60% of the town. The high school, the city jail,
the hotal/diner, the hostiptal, pretty much every city buidling. Everything
on the west side of main street. You can go for a few miles, in what was the
busiest section of the little town and the only thing that was left standing
in the grain tower (which is ironic I guess).


From what I can tell on the damage it did, it appears to have landed about 2
miles east of where Steve found the big Brenham. Haviland has a Red Cross
section set up where people are being sent.

100's of rescue workers are on the scene. Injuries are unknown, at least 50
are at area hosptials, no confirmed deaths, which is good and amazing in
itself, but it is very early.

The storm lasted six hours but has died down.


Mark


MARK BOSTICK
Sat May 5 15:33:13 EDT 2007

Hello all,

Back from mail and running out the door. I will try to answer personal
e-mails later.

The media is now doing a good job with information, so I will leave that to
them now.

Looking at starting a fund raiser, raffle or something right now with fellow
list members, stay tuned for more information.

Greensburg was one of the small friendly Kansas towns, were the people wave
at strangers and the business windows are littered with shoe polish
promoting the local high school football team game. I can't quite image all
of this. Hoping for the best for the town and it's community.

I thank you for your concern, and am thankful you were not there Steve,
Mark


MARK BOSTICK thebigcollector at msn.com
Sat May 5 16:21:08 EDT 2007

I can confirm great damage to the big well location. The shed above the
well is half missing, the building itself looks like it is missing it's
roof. This was/is the location of the 1000 lb. Brenham. Due to the weight
of the specimen I image it is still there, hopefullly still in one piece.

The tornado stayed on the ground until it entered Pratt county...where one
person has been comfirmed dead. That's an eight mile strip.

Technology and our understanding of weather saved 100's of people. Along
with much of the state last night I watched it form, start to spin, and
listened while they declared Greensburg a target of a tornado about 20
minutes before it hit.

Anyway, I apologize for the many e-mails on this. Greensburg is has a
unique meteorite history; past, present and I believe future. I hope I have
not strayed too far into OT.

Mark

HeritageAddict

Nothing quite like living in Tornado Alley, hopefully everyone is alright. I lived in Wichita in the early to mid 90's and there were always tornados around that area, it seemed like Andover was always the worst hit.

Darin

Greensburg was demolished. Some reports are saying the tornado was a mile wide. It also destroyed several rural homes and farmsteads south of Macksville. I was lucky it missed us. More severe weather and tornado warnings tonight.

Darin

Unbelievable! Greensburg could get hit again. Big tornado spotted south of there.

MeteoriteGuy

Hello everyone,

I am tired....it is past 3:30 a.m., and I have yet to take in everything from the last day, but as you know the saying "Time and tide waits on no man."

In case the hopefully linked photos do not seem work....due to length, you can check out the images in my photobucket gallery.

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/



Today was the first day they let residents back into Greensburg since the tornado Friday. In many ways, this was day one of recovery.

Greensburg resident and world famous meteorite hunter, Steve "Brenham" Arnold arrived in town around 5 p.m., just a hour before the 6 p.m. curfew. This was only accomplished by making great time into Kansas from his home in Arkansas. Steve brought with him into Kiowa County, his youngest daughter Kelsey, and a certain meteorite collector from Wichita, Kansas. (That would be me.)

After making our way through a couple road stops, they were directing traffic completely around the town, we arrived at the real road stop, complete with a dozen armed National Guardsmen...and a couple attack helicopters peacefully setting in the background.

I was using Steve's camcorder on the scene while the only Guardsman talking wrote on our windshield the address we were going to, and the number of occupants in the yellow Hummer. We were given directions to only go to the resident.

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg001a.jpg&gt;

Steve's house was in the last hit part of town, which before we arrived was a relief to him. The thought of freely renting the place out to someone in need, disappeared when we arrived...

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg002a.jpg&gt;

The previous days, rescue workers had sanctioned off the town, and marked the searched homes with paint.....Steve got this marking...

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg003a.jpg&gt;

And a neat little orange paper...

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg004a.jpg&gt;

The Living Room

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg005a.jpg&gt;

The Kitchen

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg006a.jpg&gt;

The Laundry Room

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg007a.jpg&gt;

Master Bedroom. If someone would have been in this room they would have lived. Perhaps cut a little by flying glass, but alive.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg008a.jpg

The Kids Bedroom was in the best shape in the house, notice the air mattress still inflated.

http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg009a.jpg

Photos of Steve searching through the roof, ceiling and insultation mixture, not a 6-8" sludge over everything.

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg011a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg012a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg013a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg014a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg015a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg016a.jpg&gt;
Neighbors of Steve
<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg017a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg018a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg019a.jpg&gt;

And around town photos. After curfew went into effect we left town, but not before a very quick drive around, as many of the other citizens were also doing at the time. The police, from all cities and counties in the lower portion of Kansas, didn't seem to mind and were quite understanding of the town's citizens needing to see for themselves.

To give a good ideal of the damage, the following photographs were taken with my camera, while I was using the camcorder....standing through the roof of Steve's hummer, while we quickly went around what use to be downtown Greensburg. Meaning, places were not cherry picked for damage, I didn't even use more then a half thought to choose a target and many times didn't even really aim at anything.....it was simply like this everywhere.

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg020a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg021a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg022a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg023a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg024a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg025a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg026a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg027a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg028a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg029a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg030a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg031a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg032a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg033a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg034a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg035a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg036a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg037a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg038a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg039a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg040a.jpg&gt;

A few scenes from Haviland

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg041a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg042a.jpg&gt;

<http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s17/ksmeteoriteguy/2007 Greensburg Tornado Damage/Greensburg043a.jpg&gt;

Clear Skies,
Mark Bostick
Wichita, Kansas

Darin

Mark, I'll post so you don't think you're alone in your concern for the residents of Greensburg. Thanks for the pics, I went to your site to view them. I'm 42 and lived here all my life, and Fri. and Sat. were the worst two nights of storms I've ever seen. Sat. a tornado missed my town, Seward in Stafford Cty. by 1 mile. It crossed east of town and sheared off six power poles in a row, so was at least a quarter mile wide.

Again, thanks for the pics.

Knopfler

That is terrible. I hope they can rebuild the town. I used to live in Manhattan, KS and Overland Park, KS.

bengineno9

From Wichita as well. Couldn't beleive the picture on the front page of the Eagle Sunday morning.
What a nightmare. Heard today that they rescued two elderly women that have trapped in a church for two days.
3/4 mile long Twister that tore through 20+ miles. Thought i heard today that it wiped out 95% of the town.
We took up a collection at work yesterday.

MeteoriteGuy

Nice to see a few replies from current and previous Kansas residents.

I am working with a group from the meteorite community on a fund raiser. In the past we typically raise about $10,000, but perhaps things like Katrina and 911, are considered more global disasters so hard to say what will do this time.

It will be a couple days before the raffle starts, so I likely should not post this yet, but here is a couple pages to look at, they will be updated more shortly.

http://www.aerolite.org/events/greensburg-fundraiser.htm

-- and --

http://www.aerolite.org/events/greensburg-raffle.htm


Anyway, as a friend of many from this small town,thanks for your prayers and concern.

Clear Skies,
Mark

On the night of Friday, May 4, 2007, a slow-moving storm system moved through central Kansas. Residents of Greensburg, heard tornado warning sirens about 9:45pm, 20 minutes before it hit. This warning system saved 100's of lives. However, the historic town was almost completely destroyed in it's wake. Greensburg City Administrator Steve Hewitt of it's 1,400-1,500 citizens, estimated 95 percent of the town of was destroyed.

Greensburg and Kiowa County, Kansas is filled with meteorite history. From the Kimberly's in the 1800's to Nininger and H.O. Stockwell in the 1900's. Enter Steve Arnold and another century of successful meteorite hunting is being written. The region has responded with open arms to meteorite hunters, meteorite scientist and people of interest. Small Kansas towns are like that. They wave from their truck while your driving down mail street.

After a few trips to Greensburg due to the Brenham meteorite, a small role in the 2006 Meteorite Festival in neighboring Haviland, and a study of the region's history I began to go a fondness for it.

And what an interesting history it has. 100 years ago, Greenburg had a dream to be the queen city east of the Mississippi river. I think you could even made an argument for a short time they were. Mind if I tell you how Greensburg got it's first post office? The growing Greensburg understood the importance of mail, however at that time post offices were limited to one every 150 miles. Not far from Greensburg, was the failed town of Janesville, which still contained the regions post office. The post master had named the town from his daughter and had a refused to move to Greensburg. Clever Greensburg citizens got the Postmaster in a card of games, inviting him to drink. After a few hours of drinking the Postmaster passed out and the Greensburg citizens went into action. Postmaster and all, they lifted up the post office and moved it to a prime location in downtown Greensburg.

digdug

I'm grew up in Great Bend, KS. wish I could be there to help right now.

MeteoriteGuy

Hello everyone,

Just a little update.

Things are starting to go back in place in Greensburg, although it is still quite a mess.

Several members of the meteorite community have joined together with me to raise money for Greensburg by holding a raffle. Raffle tickets are $10.00, and with a ticket you can win one of dozens of prizes including a Brenham slice worth a few grand. The drawling will be held at the 2007 Meteorite Festival in Haviland, neighboring town of Greensburg next month.

If interested, here is a link...

http://www.aerolite.org/events/greensburg-fundraiser.htm

In the past we have raised over $10,000 (for Katrine and 911) but since this is more of a local disaster, I am hoping we raise at least $5,000...which isn't too bad as the meteorite community is not that large.

Clear Skies,
Mark