Saturday, May 05, 2007

Close Call with a Tornado

All In The Family... Life in Kansas...



Last night, a huge, deadly tornado hit the little town of Greensburg, Kansas. A number of people lost their lives, and most of the town was destroyed.

Greensburg is about an hour-and-a-half drive from where my brother and sister-in-law live, but if you could drive in a straight line between the two points, it would be about sixty miles.

My sister-in-law works for an oilfield supply company. I suppose her title is "Chief Financial Officer" or something like that. She's relatively important.

Anyway, one of the company's stores is in a little Kansas town called Coldwater, which is south of Greensburg, and last night, Kathy had to attend a night-time company function in Coldwater. She reserved a motel room in Greensburg because she was afraid she'd get sleepy driving home.

After she got to the motel room and collapsed in bed, she turned on the TV and heard the warnings that bad weather was headed straight for Greensburg. She decided to get back up, get dressed, and drive home.

The tornado hit Greensburg about half an hour after Kathy left.

My brother told me this story today. I think he was a bit shaken.

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2 comments:

Michael Leddy said...

Genevieve,

I'm finding that one part of blog-reading I hadn't anticipated is the way it makes connections to events that might otherwise be happening only in "the news." Truly, no man -- no human being -- is an island.

I'm glad that your sister-in-law is safe. I'm in tornado territory too (Illinois), and I feel for the people in Greensburg.

Genevieve Netz said...

Tornadoes are so common in that part of Kansas that I think the residents have a degree of fatalism about them. They almost have to, or they would be nervous wrecks.

I'm glad Kathy didn't ignore the weather warnings. It may have been the threat of 2-inch hail that helped her decide to leave. She has a new truck.

Thanks for stopping by, Michael.

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