Greensburg, Kansas Observes Third Anniversary of Devastating EF-5 Tornado

Chris Howell NewsOn6.com

Greensburg, Kansas---Before May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas was a small rural community known for little more that having the world's largest hand-dug well.  At 9:45pm all that changed as an EF-5 tornado destroyed 95% of downtown.

Traveling through Kansas to meet with the Vortex 2 weather-chasing team, Nick Bender, Tom Bennett and I stopped in Greensburg just as they were cutting the ribbon on their new downtown shopping area. Mayor Bob Dixson told us he always knew the town would be rebuilt.

‘There's no question, this is our home,' he said, ‘as pioneers built the town for us, now it's our responsibility to build the community back.'

Greensburg now is an example of ‘Green' building, with more LEED certified homes than any other town in the country, a new courthouse, hospital, banks and schools, and a downtown area built around the S.D. Robinett building, the only building left standing after the devastating tornado.  Erica Goodman is the owner of ‘Where'd You Find That Antiques' located in the S.D. Robinett building, and was visibly moved by the ribbon-cutting.

‘It's a wonderful day in Greensburg,' she said, ‘getting all these businesses moved in next door to us…it's just wonderful.'