Words fail one in describing pictures of the devastation inflicted last Friday evening around 9:30 p.m. Kansas time by the now infamous EF5 twister ("Enhanced Fujita Scale tornado intensity level 5 indicating 200 m.p.h.+ winds) which all but obliterated nearly every structure in Greensburg, Kansas. It was the worst single tornado to touch down in the U.S. in eight years (since the Moore, Oklahoma EF5 twister in May, 1999).
These photos were relayed to me by a colleague of mine here at WGN—Terry Bates of our engineering department—whose brother Perry is a Kansas resident who was forwarded these shots by Larry Holliday, a Morton County deputy.
The mammoth "wedge" tornado responsible for the utter devastation cut a path 1.7 miles wide and 22 miles long across the Kansas landscape. Preliminary reports in to the Storm Prediction Center put the past week's tornado count at over 170—nearly a quarter of all the U.S.tornadoes on the books to date for 2007. Dan McCarthy of the Storm Prediction Center, in a conversation I had with him several days ago, indicates this year's tornado pace is running almost twice normal.
Many thanks to Terry and Perry Bates, and Larry Holliday for these photos. They certainly underscore the scope of the Greensburg, Kansas tragedy.
--Tom Skilling
Photos courtesy: Perry Bates and Larry Holliday
