Greensburg, Kansas

Greensburg, Kansas was leveled by a tornado Friday night.  The tornado killed at least nine people and completely destroyed the downtown.  Nearly all buildings in Greensburg were demolished by the mile-and-a-half wide tornado.  More severe storms are near Greensburg as I write this on Saturday night.

If you've read this site for more than a year you may recall that I visited the world's largest hand-dug well in Greensburg last year.  You can catch glimpses of the big well water tower in this KAKE video via the New York Times.

I almost didn't visit the well.  I needed to get from Great Bend to Denver so I could catch a flight the next morning.  It was early in the morning when I drove through Greensburg.  The well didn't open until noon.  I continued on to Mullinville and took lots of pictures of M.T. Liggett's artwork. 

Even though there were four hundred miles remaining to drive that day I could tell I was purposely taking my time taking photographs.  By 11 a.m. I finished and got back in the car.  Gee, I thought, if I hurried back to Greensburg there will be enough time to walk around town for a few minutes, pick up a bottle of water, and pay a quick visit to the well.

The pictures above are of buildings that were along Main Street or just off of Main Street.

Comments

[Cheryl]

Gone. An entire town. We Kansans are used to small towns fading away - but slowly. We Kansans are used to tornadoes - but not tornadoes that obliterate an entire town.

Thanks for sharing the photos, Joe. Not much traffic in town, huh?

[Joe]

There wasn't much worry about being run over when I was out there. I only wish I had more photos to share.

[Av]

Does anyone know if Liggett's artworks were also demolished?

[cheryl]

Good question. I'll try to find out and let you know.

[Ace's driver]

I was in Greensburg earlier this week. The damage does not extend nearly to Mullinville, and I am told Liggett's work is intact. Kudos to your neat website, by the way. After wandering in the rubble for two days, looking at your photos of the intact buildings reminds of of seeing archeologists' reconstructions of ruins.

[Joe]

Thanks, Ace's driver.

I loved reading about Ace's travels!

[Ron Shank]

Did you take a photo of the Chevrolet dealership. I am the dealer and don't have any pictures left. Thank you for reminding me of what Greensburg wasw like BEFORE the tornado.