Greensburg, Kansas

            I was awakened in the middle of the night by a call from my Pastor, Doug Enick. Emergency personnel asked if we would use our church bus to help move people from Greensburg because of a tornado. Obe Brant had the bus started, so I followed in my van. We left Pratt and arrived in Greensburg around 2:00 a.m. Saturday. By this time the streets were cleared so emergency vehicles could get anywhere. Whoever called the shots deserves much credit.

            Pulling into the command center on the west side of town, we watched the Barclay College tour bus pull out with people holding children and pets in their laps. The look on their faces caused tears to flow—you couldn't help it. Directed to the Dillons parking lot where emergancy lighting had been set up, we waited while people filtered in from the dark. It was warm, and the sky was clear. Some had gone looking for personal belongings and couldn't find their own homes. Many wanted to wait for daylight and the chance to retrieve whatever might be left. I took a woman who found a puppy to the command center and to my surprise a pet retrieval station had already been set up.

            Part of my job for the last two years meant driving from Pratt to Greensburg every Tuesday. I've taken my kids down the Big Well (it seemed to get deeper each time), bought pie filling at WB's, had a custom frame made at Starla's, studied the brick sculpture at GTI/BTI (my kids love the hidden duck), and enjoyed a soda at Hunter Drug Store. I often walked into the Main Street Cafe alone only to be joined for lunch or invited to a table. I'd snag a coffee at the courthouse and stop by the city office where laughter was the bigger part of any conversation.

            At Main and Kansas, I could not recognize one landmark. Walking down the street was like a surreal dream. Virtually everything was destroyed. On either side of the street were strewn cars and pickups without windows. Several had lights still flickering and seemed like wounded or dying things. The High School was blown to bits. The bus barn gone. To the West we could see. . . the horizon? It couldn't be!  Blocks of houses, hundreds of trees should be there, yet none of it appeared to exist anymore!

            Greensburg had trees. Huge, majestic trees. Google Earth Greensburg and you'll see nothing but trees. The bark-stripped, shredded ruins of trees were an eerie symbol of the malice of the storm. Their shredded tops made them look like they'd been mowed with a dull blade. Trees no tractor could have budged were uprooted and strewn about like a toddler's snacks under a high chair. There was a fire hydrant lying on the ground like an extracted tooth. What kind of wind pulls out fire hydrants?

            We talked to a search crew. They said unless someone could yell or make noise, they had no way to know where to dig. You couldn't tell if a pile of rubble was over what was left of a house or just a chunk of a house that landed in a yard. Search dogs were being used, more were on the way.

            We decided to let these guys do their jobs without distraction. By then some were ready to go to a shelter, so we took them to Haviland. At Haviland we picked up a family that wanted to go to Pratt.

            I got home as dawn was bringing the light of a new day. I paused in my driveway. I have a house with a kitchen, bathrooms, warm beds, and closets full of clothes and toys. I have a stuffed garage and two vehicles. I have a lawn with beautiful trees. I have a job.

            I asked the Lord if I held things loosely and Him firmly. I wondered how I would handle such a trial. I whispered thanks for my family, then asked Him how to serve to the wonderful people of Greensburg.

 

Russell Steen - Pratt KS