As if people here needed reminding, high winds returned for the anniversary weekend, but at a meek 70 mph they were a fraction of the F5 tornado that leveled this town a year ago.
DICK PIERSOL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Sunday, May 4, 2008 7:00 pm
GREENSBURG, Kan. — As if people here needed reminding, high winds returned for the anniversary weekend, but at a meek 70 mph they were a fraction of the F5 tornado that leveled this town a year ago.
Back then, 1,400 normal Midwesterners lived in Greensburg. Now, they’re half that number.
Thirteen people died in the storm, but half the population scattered, at least temporarily, some to nearby Pratt or Haviland or Bucklin, hoping to return when there’s housing and work. Others, for good or ill, are just gone.
Fawned upon by every news network in America, people here take attention in stride now, as when CBS brings in REO Speedwagon to perform “Ridin’ the Storm Out” at dawn on Friday. The more ambitious Discovery Channel is doing a 13-part series.
On Sunday, President Bush came for his second visit, speaking at Greensburg’s high school graduation, attended by the locals and any Kansan who is somebody.
“We celebrate the resurgence of a town that stood tall when its buildings and homes were laid low,” Bush said in his remarks at the temporary high school gym.
“We celebrate the power of faith, the love of family and the bonds of friendship that guided you through the disaster,” Bush said. “And we celebrate the resilience of 18 seniors who grew closer together when the world around them blew apart.”
Last year, when the president inspected the damage, people were stunned. Now, they’re busy.
All weekend, they were opening this and cutting ribbons for that: the new water tower, the new Greentown demonstration of energy efficiency, the reopening of a charitable second-hand store, open house at the apartments for seniors.
If heroism is, in fact, people acting gracefully, or normally, under pressure, there are plenty of heroes here, as they continue to rebuild, restore their lives and recover from a haunting night.
Among the pressures some feel are the lingering, haunting recollections of that night, the relentless attention, the difficulty of adapting from the relative ease of small-town life as it was to the inevitability of an entirely changed real estate market.
For each, it is different.
“Nothin’ to do,” said Kacey Fulton, my niece and a graduating senior, when asked what’s the most difficult adaptation. The teen hangouts are gone so school and sports play even more important roles. The school may be a set of trailers, but they were better than having to go to school somewhere else, the senior graduation speakers agreed.
Picture the stress and tension of a home remodeling project. Now picture a whole town going through it. People are not always so gracious.
“It gets pretty intense,” said Randy Fulton, my brother in law, and principal of Greensburg High School. “We’ve had some blowups. Luckily not all at once.”
So, at times, Greensburg teeters.
It faces intimidating circumstances. People who were paying $150 a month to rent an older home or space in an older building for a business no longer have that inexpensive option, if they have a place to rent at all.
The county hospital’s rebuilding, but a couple doctors left town. There’s no dentist and no drug store. The Kwik-Shop has become almost a grocery store, because Dillon’s hasn’t yet reopened.
But there are unusual blessings, too. This was a dry town, but somehow, in the aftermath of the tornado, because something didn’t get filed correctly or on time, a window of opportunity created an off-sale liquor store that people appreciate and patronize.
Greensburgers have adapted and tolerated.
But not without some difficulty. They really don’t like it when out-of-towners come to claim the free dog food somebody donated to those living here.
The mother of a 15-year-old describes how her son needs his parents nearby when he sleeps. He insists he needs no counseling, but he is demanding when it comes to their whereabouts.
“Not that he reciprocates,” his mother cracked.
Publicity breeds itself, and attracts the Westboro Baptist Church, the infamous Kansas congregation that demonstrates at Iraqi war funerals and accuses Bush of handing over the nation to homosexuality. Behind them, come the Patriot Riders to guard against the the religious demonstrators who accuse Greensburg of being cursed by God.
They are mostly ignored.
All of Greensburg’s seven churches are being rebuilt.
And as always, whenever there is a really bad tornado, there are the mysterious phenomena. Like tire tracks on top of the elevator and the courthouse, both buildings that didn’t fall.
The trees are beat up, their limbs gone, but they stand sprouting new growth.
The Western meadowlarks call urgent attention to spring.
Saturday and Sunday, the Greensburg High School graduates enjoyed their parties outdoors just as if everything were normal. They have school today and three more days.
They graciously accommodated the president, who asked them to reschedule their graduation to Sunday, because his daughter is getting married May 10.
“I could have suggested changing the date of the wedding instead,” Bush said wryly, “but I think we all know how that idea would have turned out.”
Editor’s Note: Reporter Dick Piersol traveled to Greensburg for the graduation of his niece.
The Associate Press contributed to this story.
Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com