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 Greensburg, Kansas
May 4, 2007
On a spring night in 2007, the citizens of a small Kansas town faced a catastrophe beyond imagining.
What happened?
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Shortly before 10 p.m., a warning was issued that a mile-wide EF5 tornado—the most powerful tornado possible—was bearing down on Greensburg.
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In less than ten minutes, the storm ripped the town to shreds with winds estimated at more than 200 miles per hour.
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Ten lives were lost, and 95% of the town’s structures were damaged or destroyed entirely.
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 Kansans are tornado-savvy people. When the warning sirens shrieked, most of Greensburg’s 1,500 or so residents had time to retreat to basements and storm shelters.
But few structures can withstand an EF5 tornado. When the fury had passed, people clambered through the rubble to find their homes crushed, or simply ripped away, above them.
Continue to Understanding Tornadoes. >>
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