GREENSBURG, Kan. - It's hard to describe the immensity of the destruction in Greensburg, Kan. State and federal officials say 95 percent of the town is destroyed; gone as well are 961 homes, and 136 businesses have major damage. Standing in the center of town and looking in all directions it's an endless scene of carnage: houses ripped apart, vehicles crushed, garbage strewn everywhere and trees, those left standing, are stripped of all but their main limbs.
What's easy to describe, though, in the unfortunate town of Greensburg are the efforts of hundreds of National Guardmembers helping the residents here recover from this disaster.
After this small southwestern Kansas town was leveled by an F5 tornado on evening of May 4, Kansas National Guard Soldiers and Airmen were called up and reported for duty. Soon after arriving, they provided crews for debris removal, security, transportation, damage assessment, power generation, communications, and fresh water.
Reports from the National Guard Bureau Joint Operations Center on May 9 put the total number called up to close to 500. Some of those responding were from the Det 1, 226th Company from Pittsburg, Kan.
Late in the day on May 8, members of the 226th sat on curve, taking break after a long day of removing debris.
After getting the call, 14-year Guard veteran Sgt. Marcus Chamberlin arrived in the nearby town of Pratt Sunday at 1 a.m. He got two hours of sleep and then was on his way to Greensburg by 4 a.m.
The first thing my work crew did was remove trees from the city hall area and debris from the hospital, he said. They used front-end loaders, dump trucks, back hoes and mainly their hands, he added.
"I saw a little bit of rubble and nastiness in Bagdad when I went there in 2003, but this blows that away," said Sgt. Robert Wells, another 226th member.
There's been talk about Army Guard equipment shortages during the disaster relief, to the point of hampering relief efforts. What do these Soldiers doing that relief work think?
Chamberlin said that what equipment they don't have they get by sharing with other organizations: "We had a lot of support from state employee workers and their trucks. We work side-by-side with them and ... the Air Force (Air National Guard) ... with KDOT (Kansas Department of Transportation). They bring their equipment, we bring ours. We work through it pretty well."
Later, the same Soldiers worked till sundown, removing a large, downed elm tree near the FEMA trailer by the courthouse, making the road there more passable. It would be same trailer that President Bush would hold a meeting the next day during his visit there and the same road his presidential motorcade would travel on.
With steady rain falling, Army 1st Lt. Mark Doud of the 891st Engineers supervises his Soldiers as they remove rotting food from a market on Greensburg's main strip--U.S. 54/400. Using shopping carts, they take out hundreds of packages of spoiled cheese, yogurt, hotdogs and such, tossing it into a dumpster in the back of the store.
Other members of Doud's unit were busy clearing easements, "so the gas company, electric company, water, and other utilities can get cleared up" he said. "[That way] big movers can clear the roadways to keep everything moving so the contractors and civilians can come in and start taking care of the houses."
According to Army 1st Lt. Drew Poulon, cell phones served as the main communications link to the three work crews he led, because their hand-held radios weren't working--probably due to all of the communications vehicles parked in the center of town emitting signals. Knowing where his teams were was made more difficult by the fact that all but a few of the town's road signs were lying twisted on the ground.
His teams are under orders to only remove rubble 8 to 10 feet from the edge of the road, the easement area. Residents are being instructed to place debris they want removed next to the curb so it can be hauled away.
The spirit of these people is incredible, said Poulon. They come and say thank you after you haul away their roof that's been blow off their house, said Poulon.
Air Guardmembers were in action in Greensburg as well. Sixty-five members of the 190th Air Refueling Wing's Civil Engineering Squadron cleared debris from public areas of town as residence comb through their private residences on their own.
"We're separating the wood from the metal [and] from the plastic and regular junk. That makes it easier to take out to the land fill where they burn it," said Master Sgt. William McClain on his first day in Greensburg.
"We're mainly picking through stuff by hand, using the heavy equipment on the big stuff," he said, and cautioned that, "There's a lot of opportunity for injury out here."
His work crew agreed that their two biggest safety concerns are staying hydrated and looking out for nails protruding from wood.
These Air Guardmembers were lodging in a college dorm in nearby Haviland and in three tents they had erected close by.
Army Guard Spc. William Glasgow of the 242nd Engineering Battalion has first-hand tornado experience: "I've been in an F2, chased by an F5 and been hit by stuff from an F1." He lives in a small town southeast of Greensburg. It was his fourth day of back-breaking work, but exhaustion was not evident on his sun-baked face under his yellow hardhat. He said his fellow crewmembers, about 8 to 10 Soldiers, were clearing two to three blocks a day of rubble. They're under strict orders not touch valuables, he said. After his 8-5 shift ends, he'll jump on a bus and head back to an Army Guard armory in a town 50 miles away were he's being lodged. For dinner, it'll be an MRE (Meals-Ready-to-Eat).
According to Tech. Sgt. Jared Delong of the 134th Air Control Squadron, one of his unit's first tasks after arriving at Greensburg was setting up 18 light carts around town that helped rescue workers see what they were doing. They also brought two large generators that powered up city government offices. Delong also drove around on an all-terrain vehicle with a fellow squadron member assessing damage and stopping occasionally to retrieve a fallen American flags from the rubble. When they find one, they fold it and dispose of it properly with all necessary honors. His unit plans to present one flag--muddied, torn and found under rubble--to the Greensburg mayor.
All of these efforts of Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen have allowed the residence of Greensburg to return to their homes and to do what has to be done. Clearing the streets has allowed 20-plus-year Greensburg resident Jason West access to his home so that he can salvage what little of it is left. Luckily, when the storm struck at 9:45 p.m. his wife and kids were out of town visiting relatives, he said. He said that none of his family members or anyone that he knew died or was injured from the tornado.
Now it's time for him to take care of the material things in his life. Holding his infant daughter in his hands, he eyes his truck parked next to his demolished house. He wants to see if the Dodge Ram will start up, better yet move out of the rubble pile that it's a part of. "My baby," as he calls the truck, had only 3,800 miles on it but now looks likes it's been pelted by bricks. It's fared better than his friends, which is on its side in West's front yard. Townspeople roll by in a small tractor hauling a crushed four-wheeler that is almost unrecognizable. West yells, "Does it run?" They laugh; and reply, "How'd you make out?" West fires back, "All right." Along with getting his truck started, he asks if he can get a ride on one of those National Guard helicopters that have been flying over this town the past few days.
West's resilience and optimism are apparent, along with other residence struck by this disaster. They will pick up the pieces and move on with their lives. Thankfully, the citizens of Greensburg have the National Guard standing with him, helping them along the path to recovery.