Posted on 05/05/2007 12:04:35 AM PDT by silentknight
Greensburg tornado photo
http://www.kotv.com/newsimages/640/5beb8a57-1b53-4ca2-bb0f-8d9e78249169.jpg
Tornado is still on the ground...reports of damage have been coming in for FOUR HOURS+ straight.
for later
Prayers for all affected.
Prayers for all those in harms way... may God guide the rescuers to the victims.
Holy crap. That is enormous.
Is there a map of the path and trajectory?
Prayers for those who are hurt and trapped..Prayers for those who mourn.
http://www.kake.com/breakingnews/7347256.html
Tornado Coverage - Raw Video 2:12am
Greensburg Suffers Significant Damage In Tornado
Tornado Coverage - Raw Video 2:12am
Reporter: KAKE News
Updated 2:20am
May 5 2007— Video from Greensburg, Kansas shows massive tornado damage. Much of the downtown of the Kiowa County town has been leveled. A large wedge-shaped tornado hit the town of 1,600 around 10:00 p.m. Friday.
KAKE’s Nick VinZant spoke with some citizens who report seeing damage at the Kiowa County Memorial Hospital at Grant and Walnut, including a roof collapse in one wing of the building. VinZant has seen sigificant damage with dozens of homes and buildings either damaged or destroyed. VinZant says much of the downtown area has suffered extensive damage. It appears the tornado hit the west side of Main Street.
KAKE storm chaser Lanny Dean reports a motel destroyed on the West side of Greensburg. Large farm equipment has also been destroyed.
At least 12 people have been transported from Greensburg to Pratt Regional Hospital. A shelter has been established at Barclay College in Haviland, which is 12 miles east of Greensburg.
Power is out for the entire community, and multiple power lines are down. Greensburg is a town of about 1,600 people and is the county seat of Kiowa County. A search and rescue crew from Sedgwick County is in route to Kiowa County.
Prayers on the way.
prayers sent.
Good Lord.
Prayers on the way for all affected.
That is ONE MONSTER. Boy, I hope those good folks are okay.
A single tornado, a mile wide? Wow.
It’s pretty NASTY:
Tornado Wallops Kansas Town; 1 Killed
Saturday May 5, 2007 12:46 PM
GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) - Rescuers pulled about 30 people from a partially collapsed hospital Saturday after a tornado ripped through this southwest Kansas community and killed at least one person.
The injuries of those who were trapped there were minor, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department.
The tornado struck Friday night, leaving a broad swath of destruction in the Kiowa County town about 110 miles west of Wichita. The storm front spawned tornadoes along a path stretching northeast from Greensburg through central Kansas.
Watson said authorities were trying to account for all the residents of the town, and did not have an exact count on the injured.
Phone service to the town of about 1,600 residents was knocked out, and the state’s department of transportation was trying to restore emergency service.
Emergency personnel and search and rescue teams from throughout southwest Kansas raced toward Greensburg after the twister struck.
The injured were taken to hospitals as far away as Dodge City, where the Western Plains Medical Complex confirmed one fatality. The Pratt Regional Medical Center treated about 50 people, a hospital spokeswoman said. Three patients were sent on to Wichita’s Wesley Medical Center, including two who were in critical condition, she said.
Search dogs accompanied law enforcement officers as they searched house to house for anyone trapped or injured.
Roads into and out of Greensburg were closed for several hours to allow emergency vehicles to reach the town.
The National Weather Service described the tornado as a ``wedge,’’ an especially broad and tall formation. Frederick Kruse of the weather service’s Dodge City office said there were initial reports that the tornado was at least three-quarters of a mile wide on the ground.
Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department, said the state fire marshal’s office dispatched hazardous materials teams because railroad cars in Kiowa County had overturned.
She said the National Guard was sending 40 troops to provide security around Greensburg.
Shelters were opened for Greensburg residents at Barclay College and a high school in nearby Haviland.
At the high school, the Rev. Gene McIntosh described how he huddled with his family in the parsonage of Greensburg’s United Methodist Church as the tornado roared overhead. McIntosh said sofa cushions protected his 11-year-old son and the boy’s friend from debris and insulation that fell from the basement ceiling.
``There was a lot of praying down there,’’ McIntosh said.
Elsewhere on Friday, three small tornadoes touched down in rural southwestern Illinois, but officials said there were no reports of injury or damage. Two tornadoes struck in Oklahoma, damaging some structures but injuring no one, officials said
MAP:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ned=us&ncl=1115930780&hl=en&sa=N&tab=nl
Prayers.
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