Survivor Found In Kansas Tornado Rubble

Death Toll At 11 Statewide; Greensburg Residents Return To Ruined Town

(CBS/AP)  Rescue teams searching the rubble that was once Greensburg found one more victim and a survivor, raising the death toll from a powerful tornado that largely obliterated the small town to at least nine, authorities said Monday.

A report of a 10th victim proved to be a wig in the debris that was misidentified as a body.

The enhanced F-5 tornado with winds estimated at 205 miles per hour was 1.7 miles wide, as broad as the entire town, and it spun straight down Main Street, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

Greensburg has survived tornadoes before — eight have touched down since 1993 — but never like this. For a town with a population of 1,500, as few as six homes are inhabitable now, adds Sreenivasan.

Little remained standing in Greensburg but the grain elevator as the town's 1,500 residents were allowed back in to check their property. The tornado demolished every business on the main street. Churches lost their steeples, trees were stripped of their branches, and neighborhoods were flattened. Officials estimate as much as 95 percent of the town was destroyed.

One of the latest victims was found under debris in the middle of town, city administrator Steve Hewitt said. The other body was pulled from a nearby lake.

Rescue teams also found a survivor as they searched the wreckage on Sunday, two days after the tornado hit, providing hope for other discoveries, said Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman Ron Knoefel. He did not release details on the survivor's identity or condition, and authorities had not identified any of the victims.

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 may be safely staying with friends or relatives, rather than in shelters. The sheer amount wreckage made the search effort that much harder.

"We've been over the town twice now — all of our partners around the state, the experts from cities with technical search-and-rescue," Maj. Gen. Todd Bunting, the state's adjutant general, told CNN on Monday morning. "Some of this rubble is 20, 30 feet deep."

The search may be furthered hampered by severe thunderstorms expected to pound the southern and central Plains, dumping another two to four inches of rain as well as producing hail and high winds, with the possibility of more tornadoes, CBS News meteorologist George Cullen reported.

After a number of relatively benign tornado seasons, this year has been anything but, adds CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers. Already this year, 72 people have died, including 19 in Enterprise, Ala., and another 19 in Lake County, Fla. The average on a given year is 55 deaths.

Some of that search effort was stalled at midday when a tank holding anhydrous ammonia — a toxic chemical used as farm fertilizer — leaked, prompting officials to evacuate the northeast part of the town.

At the edge of the city Monday, evacuated residents waiting to get back to their homes for the first time since the tornado struck on Friday sat in a line of vehicles as police checked identification. Utility repair crews arriving from other cities added to the traffic jam.

Police also used the opportunity to collect names and compile a list of people whose whereabouts hadn't been determined.

Insurance agent Scott Spark, a 13-year resident of Greensburg, hauled papers out of his wrecked office near downtown. He had already been to his destroyed home.

"I could probably have salvaged some more stuff if I had been able to get back, but I understand how it is," he said of the restrictions. "I mean, they were still having tornadoes last night. I understand they want everybody to be safe."

The weekend storms continued into Monday across parts of the Plains.

High water in Topeka forced hundreds of people out of their homes early Monday, closed schools and blocked streets and highways around the state.

"The rescuers brought rafts up to the houses. My car's flooded in right now," Kim Moore said of her Topeka neighborhood.

In southwest Iowa, nearly 1,600 residents of Red Oak and all of tiny Coburg were urged to evacuate Monday as the East Nishnabotna River and a creek rose out of their banks. Flood stage at Red Oak is 18 feet, but the river had already hit 25.7 feet early Monday and was still rising, said Adam Wainwright, emergency management coordinator for Montgomery County.

One man drowned in western Oklahoma when a flood swept his vehicle off a rural road, authorities said.

The National Weather Service classified the Greensburg tornado as an F-5, the highest category and the first F-5 since it revised its scale this year to more comprehensively gauge damage potential, with less emphasis on wind speed. The last tornado classified as an F-5 hit the Oklahoma City area on May 3, 1999, killing 36 people.

The wreckage in Greensburg also led to allegations of looting. Four soldiers from Fort Riley and a reserve police officer were arrested Sunday on suspicion of looting cigarettes and alcohol from a Greensburg store, state officials said. The soldiers had not been assigned to help in Greensburg, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general's office.

[dovestar]

It seems that for some people the blame for everything that goes wrong is placed on the shoulders of George W. Bush. Now this tornado is also his fault because equipment that was needed here is now in Iraq.
I have never in my lifetime seen such hatred for one individual with the possible exception of Blacks during the 60's.
Listen up. Hatred of Blacks in the '60's was wrong just as the hatred being spewed for President Bush is today.
The people of Greensburg deserve better than this. Their town was destroyed by a fierce storm--not by FEMA, not by some bureaucrat, and certainly not by President Bush.
Perhaps we are seeing these natural disasters because God may be trying to get our attention. Years of excluding Him from the town square have taken their toll. I read that the first building to be rebuilt in Greensburg is going to be a bank. How sad. It should be the church. There people can gather to pray and be comforted. Then the rebuilding work can begin.

[mitch0927]

itwasntme000,
Thanks

[itwasntme000]

yea mitch maybe my comments earlier werent for this posting board. I was more thinking of the people overpopulating areas of california and florda stuff like that doing jobs that are not essential to the country like farming is.... Then to hear those people who packed into citys of hundreds of thousands complain when their city is will inevetably be destroyed by a 'real' natural disaster like in this story or a quake/hurricane.
my bust

[itwasntme000]

You want to "send" the mexicans to clean up.
posted by durher

I didnt say to go and clean up the mess from this. i said to go and work in this area of the us during tornado season so the "americans" dont have to worry about tragedys like in this story.

[processor2]

11 DEAD IN KANSAS!!!
Maybe Nancy Pelosi & the Dummycrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Kansas.


SERIOUSLY, THOUGH

It's nice to hear some good news for a change about the survivor that was found.
GOD SPEED TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.

...

[processor2]

11 DEAD IN KANSAS!!!
Maybe Nancy Pelosi & the Dummycrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Kansas.


SERIOUSLY, THOUGH

It's nice to hear some good news for a change about the survivor that was found.
GOD SPEED TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.

...

[mitch0927]

duhrer,
Not cool putting words in my mouth (so to speak). It bumms me out to see people pointing fingers and blaming others for problems that can not be avoided.

[duhrer]

mitch0927,
idealistic of you to lecture folks on participating. You know very well that for many Americans (including myself) our work environment does not permit us the opportunity to just "take off" and go across the country to help, no matter how much we want to. I'd end up adding to the unemployment ranks and then you'd complain that I was part of the problem where too many people were taking advantage of the system.

[duhrer]

itwasntme000,
enough with the racist comments about Mexicans already. You want to "send" the mexicans to clean up. Why don't you go? Oh, I know, so you can blame Mexicans when your sitting on your couch potato arse that they have stolen yet another job from you.

[mitch0927]

Let me see, since we have to blame all this on Bush, that prevents us a fellow human beings to get off of out duffs and get out there and help. FEMA hasn't been around forever, but we always seem to find people sitting on their a$$es pointing fingers and blaming. When was the last time any of you volunteered for anything without a hidden agenda?

[duhrer]

ABCNews article today:
Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general, said the Kansas National Guard was equipped to about 40 percent of its necessary levels, down from the 60 percent it had at the start of the war. About 850 soldiers have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, the Bushies have made a shambles of Iraq and because of our depleted national guard, they're making a shambles of our country as well. This is just the most visible part of what they've done. My heart goes out to the tornado survivors with hopes that they get better treatment from our government than the Katrina folks did. But never fear FEMA is there, or should I say... Homeland Security... Achtung... vehr are your papers?

[mitch0927]

All this can't be blamed on Bush, that is a cop out. I didn't think you were a rscist too.

[itwasntme000]

maybe i should, bush has ruined the country anyway..

good point on the farmers tho. didnt look at it that way. but they do choose to do the job so. maybe we should send the mexicans we have their to do the job (opps did i say that out loud)

[mitch0927]

Born and raised in the Cascade mountains....

[mitch0927]

The food you eat, like corn, beef, bread is all grown here in the "heartland" and no thanks to people like you, who can't have pity on the people, farmers, ranchers who do this for a living. So why not leave this country for another one, because it seems you could care less about them.

[itwasntme000]

what do you think a blizzard is a natural disaster that can blow houses over or send them 10 feet under???
Or have you ever seen a snow flake in your life???

[processor2]

11 DEAD IN KANSAS!!!
Maybe Nancy Pelosi & the Dummycrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Kansas.


SERIOUSLY, THOUGH

It's nice to hear some good news for a change about the survivor that was found.
GOD SPEED TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.

...

[processor2]

11 DEAD IN KANSAS!!!
Maybe Nancy Pelosi & the Dummycrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Kansas.


SERIOUSLY, THOUGH

It's nice to hear some good news for a change about the survivor that was found.
GOD SPEED TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.

...

[processor2]

11 DEAD IN KANSAS!!!
Maybe Nancy Pelosi & the Dummycrats will pass a non-binding resolution urging Bush to get out of Kansas.


SERIOUSLY, THOUGH

It's nice to hear some good news for a change about the survivor that was found.
GOD SPEED TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES.

...

[mitch0927]

You can go all you want, just proves your stupidly even more.