As far as a chase goes… this one was a bust. I thought there may be some thunderstorms in southwest Kansas, which would have given me a chance at some lightning photography. I came up empty. I did however; make it to Greensburg, Kansas for the first time since an EF5 tornado just about got rid of the entire city. I spent about an hour in city and a little more time in the path track south of the city. I came away with several thoughts. First of all, I can hardly see how those people have managed to stay around. My hat is off to them. I know they got hit by an EF5 tornado… but here we are almost two years later and the city is still very messed up. I don’t know that I would have been able to hang around. Even if your house has been built back… there stands a good chance at seeing piles of debris on either side of you. It will take decades to get normal looking, large trees again despite all the recent planting. Another thing that struck me was how large areas of new homes have been built… but stuck in the middle of them is a house that you can tell was built many decades before the tornado. How did that manage to miss out? Another thing that stands out is all the many miles of new poles. Poles and more poles. I don’t know why that grabbed me, but it did. I really hope that everyone is able to hang in there for however many years it’s going to take to completely rebuild. It is going to take many more. I didn’t take any pictures in the city. I felt like those people have had their picture taken, their torn up trees, and their vacant house slabs caught on camera about a million times. It’s probably time to let that stuff go. I even closed my laptop while getting gas in case someone thought I was a storm chaser. I don’t know what these poor folks must think when they see storm chasers in their city. My Uncle Evan who lived his whole life in northwest Iowa once said, “You don’t have to worry about people here… they are a hearty folk”. I think that holds true for most of the plains and especially in Greensburg… but boy do they still have a long way to go. The rest of my time around there was spent in the path track several miles south of the city. Again, poles, poles and more poles. I took the time to get some pictures of my favorites – old farm houses, windmills and the sunset of course before returning back to Okarche.
