May 23 Greensburg/Havilland tornadoes

[Mike Peregrine]

Incidentally, there was an article in the NY Times on June 10th about this year's close encounter in Greensburg. Tough to imagine what was going through their minds at the time. It was truly unbelievable after chasing on the 23rd and seeing the warning coming in on this storm. That article answered a question I had. I wondered if the film crew was there that night and if this might become the subject of a future episode of Greensburg on Planet Green.

The show has become my new favorite on TV, as it is showing the real work involved in reinventing this town. Some more thoughts on the show here.

 

[Brandon Ivey]

Where the tornado crossed Hwy 54, we measured the damage width at just over 1/2 mile. Interestingly, three weeks later (6/12), the car that got tossed was still sitting in the field about 1/4 mi north of the highway.

Yeah, that car was out there for a long time. I think they were being courteous to the farmer that owned the property. I am sure as soon as he cut his wheat harvest, they sent trucks out there to retrieve the car. That was a terrible night. We crossed the damage path and had no clue the car had been thrown from the rest stop into the field.