The Kansas CW | Rebuilding Greensburg: Two Years Later
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Monday marks two years since a devastating tornado hit the Kiowa County town of Greensburg. The 200 mile an hour winds took out homes, businesses, and for a while, hope the town would ever bounce back. But 24 months later, the community has gone from caution tape to construction zones.
As one of the only buildings to make it through the tornado, what's being done to the Kiowa County Courthouse is more than just aesthetic. Whether they realize it, construction crews are repairing people's confidence at the same time.
"All of these things that are going on here in town, all are symbols of what a community can do if they decide to do something and then work towards it," says Kiowa County Commission Chairman, Gene West.
The courthouse will be the next major project finished in Greensburg, but it's among several currently under construction, including some buildings people worried wouldn't even come back.
A new state of the art hospital is starting to take shape, crews are moving dirt in anticipation of the town's new high school, a grocery store is up and running and entire neighborhoods are looking like they did before the storm blew in.
City Manager Steve Hewitt tells Eyewitness News, "There's no doubt in anyone's mind, I don't care where you're at, Greensburg is a community again and it's happening."
bBt "happening" doesn't come easy. Two years later, looking around town, you can still see how far Greensburg has to go.
With the debris still lying around, comes questions of whether Greensburg should be further along than it is.
"We are a community and it's easy to get down and worry and it takes a lot of time and when it takes so much time people get discouraged and doubt sets in a little bit. But you can see evidence with construction happening all over town, it's happening," ads Hewitt.
Greensburg's population now sits at 822, still down from the 1,400 who live here before the storm. But more 220 new homes and apartments have been built.
So with every board cut and every building restored, people have another reason to believe in Greensburg.
Commissioner West adds, "We're gaining, we're doing very well and in the next couple years I hope the proof will be in the pudding."
