Kansas Governor: Iraq War Slowed Response to Tornado
Tuesday , May 08, 2007, Associated Press
May 7: Kansas Highway Patrolman Dan McCollum hangs a flag
he found at Dr. Rod Bradley's home in Greensburg, Kansas. GREENSBURG, Kansas — The government's response to a tornado that destroyed a Kansas town and claimed the lives of at least nine people was undermined by ongoing National Guard deployments to Iraq, Kansas' governor said.
The massive tornado — a Category F-5 with wind estimated at 205 mph — was part of a weekend of violent storms across the Plains that killed at least 11 people across Kansas and demolished 95 percent of Greensburg, a town of 1,500 residents.
"I don't think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower," Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said. "The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace."
Sebelius said she would address the issue with President George W. Bush when he arrives in Greensburg to tour the damage on Wednesday. White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected the criticism, saying the National Guard had equipment positioned around the country to respond to disasters when requested by states.
"There's been an enormous amount of help on the scene already, frankly, when it comes to what's been going on with the tornado. FEMA has certainly been actively engaged, and the administration is doing whatever it can," Snow said at the White House. "And if there's a need for equipment, it will arrive."
In the wake of the 1.7 mile wide tornado, cadaver dogs worked alongside residents, who were allowed back in to scour the rubble for whatever belongings could be salvaged.
Tree trunks stood bare in Greensburg, stripped of most of their branches. All the churches were destroyed. Every business on Main Street was demolished, and the town's fire engines were crushed. The massive concrete silos of a grain elevator towered over the flattened expanse of what was left of the town.
The tornado, — the most powerful to hit the U.S. in eight years — also left 13 people hospitalized, including four in critical condition. Two others were killed from the story system in other parts of Kansas.
A victim's body was pulled from a nearby lake on Monday. Officials reported they had found another body buried beneath rubble in the middle of town, but that turned out to be just a wig, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Emergency Management Agency.
Earlier Monday, Greensburg Mayor Lonnie McCollum said two elderly women had been rescued Sunday night from a church basement, but officials later confirmed the women had been rescued on Saturday morning.
Residents said the toll could have been far worse if not for a 20-minute warning that gave them time to take shelter in storm cellars and basements.
A step above the typical tornado warning, which simply means a twister has been spotted or is likely to develop, a tornado emergency is used when an extremely dangerous storm is headed directly for a populated area, meteorologist Jennifer Ritterling said.
One was last issued in 1999 when an F-5 tornado struck the Oklahoma City area, killing 36 people. Ritterling said the typical lead time for a tornado is 10 to 18 minutes but the storm's extreme size made it simpler to spot and predict its movements.
"The strong and violent ones are easier to detect than the smaller tornadoes," she said. "We try not to cry wolf and send out false alarms for things that aren't rotating. You have to put that extra wording in when it appears people are in danger."
Mike Umscheid, a meteorologist at Dodge City, issued the lifesaving warning Friday night. In his online blog, Umscheid said he initially thought the storm would miss Greensburg to the southeast. But then, he said, the storm began turning more to the north with each pass of the radar.
"I didn't even really give it thought ... the 'tornado emergency for Greensburg' ... it was like instinct — just did it," he wrote on the blog.
The search-and-rescue effort stalled briefly Monday after an overturned storage tank began spewing anhydrous ammonia, a toxic substance used for fertilizer by farmers. A portion of the town was evacuated anew, and access to the city was cut off briefly.
School was canceled for what remained of the year, school district officials said.
There remained plenty of caution about what the rubble might reveal in the coming days. Since the tornado hit Friday night, emergency responders have had little indication of how many people in this central Kansas town may be safely staying with friends or relatives, rather than in shelters.
Law enforcement officials will be checking identification and compiling a list of people whose whereabouts still have not been determined. Residents were told to leave again by 6 p.m.
Amid the searching, a museum volunteer uncovered a missing 1,000-pound pallasite meteorite. One of the largest of its kind in the world, the meteorite is insured for $1 million. For decades, meteorite hunters from around the world have been drawn here to hunt for space rocks in the rich soil near here.
