Greensburg, Kan. - It had taken almost two days of work by a dozen people to clear the debris of what was once a garage away from the pickup truck buried underneath. To the joy of onlookers, Rodney A. Prosser turned the key ignition, pressed steeply on the gas pedal, and gunned the vehicle over more debris while kicking up a cloud of dust. Bought new less than three weeks ago, the mangled truck's return to life seemed to symbolize the hopes of the Prosser family to rebuild their own lives after experiencing the devastation of the Greensburg tornado. The category F5E tornado, measuring 1.7 miles in diameter, cut a trail of destruction 22 miles long, flattened the city of Greensburg, population 1,500, and killed 10 people.
Four days earlier, Rodney Prosser, who is 1st Sgt. of Alpha Battery, 161st Field Artillery, from Dodge City, was at Ft. Riley with his unit participating in a field exercise amid heavy winds and rains. He knew from weather updates that severe storms were peppering the western two-thirds of Kansas and that tornadoes had been spotted in the vicinity of his hometown Greensburg, located 200 miles to the southwest. His wife Laura had called him earlier in the evening to reassure him that she and their two children Keith, 13, and Heidi, 11, were safe. Â
Around 9 p.m. that evening, another soldier came up to him and said that the news media were broadcasting that Greensburg had been hit by a tornado. Apprehensive, he phoned his wife and got no answer.
"When the sirens sounded," said Laura Prosser, "I immediately herded the kids down into the basement and we huddled together in the corner. The sirens continued for long time it seemed, and then they stopped. Then the lights went out, and we could hear glass breaking all around us."
When the clatter stopped, Laura and the children tried to get back upstairs but found that the basement stairs were blocked by fallen lumber. Returning to the other side of the basement they found a broken window, and one by one crawled out of it onto the lawn. Outside, they found that the neighborhood they once knew no longer existed but was piled into a jagged, unrecognizable landscape.
"I saw a flashlight," said Laura. "The neighbor from across the street had also come out about that time and came over to see if we were all right. Thankfully, she had a cell phone which I used to call Rodney."
Unaware to her, help was already on the way.
"I was worried," said Rodney. "I called my friend Don in Pratt and asked him to check on my family. He was already on the outskirts of Greensburg when Laura called."
"When I spoke with her -- knew that she and the kids were safe -- I was okay."
Leaving Ft. Riley at midnight, Rodney finally arrived in Pratt at 3:30 a.m., where his friend Don Voss had brought Laura and the children for shelter. "We cried in each other's arms for awhile, talked for a long time," said Laura. "We laid down for maybe a half hour, but couldn't sleep. At dawn, after there was light outside, Rodney and I drove back to Greensburg."
Upon arriving at the edge of city, the couple found that Echo Battery, 161st Field Artillery, out of Great Bend had mobilized overnight and established security checkpoints into the city. Still in uniform, Prosser volunteered for state-active duty to help lead search and rescue efforts in the countryside north of the city. While he was gone, Laura slept in their truck parked across the street from the checkpoint.
"My team cleared four farm homes and found light damage but no injuries," said Rodney. "But there was terrific damage to the pasture fencing. Cattle was scattered in groups everywhere, and one farmer who had 600 head of cattle couldn't find any of his own nearby."
By mid-day however, the extent of the disaster weighed heavily on Rodney's mind and he asked to be relieved from duty and focus on the damage to his own home. Leaving the checkpoint, he and his wife tried to find their way back home.
"The city wasn't anything we remembered. Most of the familiar landmarks were swiped clean. We couldn't tell what street we on. Only a few buildings had enough structure left to know what they used to be, using them, we counted the blocks to determine where we needed to go," he said.
Eventually the two found their home again, but it didn't look like the home they remembered. Except for a few feet of interior wall sticking out above the first level, everything else had vanished above the foundation. The front stoop of the house, formed of concrete, was the only part of the house which appeared unchanged. Everything else had been demolished by the tornado or ruined by three feet of rain water which had accumulated in the basement. Exhausted they returned to Pratt.Â
Two days later, after the street debris had been pushed aside and it was safe enough for citizens to travel through the city, Rodney and Laura returned with family and friends to sift what they could of personal belongings and mementos from the rubble. Their new truck, dug out from the debris although heavily damaged -- was a happy fine. Other neighbors' vehicles were totally mangled. A happy fine for Laura was a watch-pendant necklace found lying out in the open on the swept-clean flooring.
"This was a gift I received when the kids were babies. I'd hold them in my arms while humming lullabies and clinch the pendant between my teeth," she said.
With their home totally destroyed and their lives turned upside down, the Prossers have come to a crossroad in their lives.
Laura says they'll remain in Greensburg and rebuild. "Our lives are here, our jobs are here," she said. She teaches first-grade at the local elementary school and her husband Rodney works as a mechanic environmentalist for Panhandle Eastern Oil Company, located in Greensburg.
"Yes, we'll rebuild," said Rodney. "I don't what, or when. But one thing is for sure. We made a pact with our neighbors Rob and Wanda Booth that no matter what, we'd remain neighbors."