debunking a myth

Contrary to popular belief....

THIS


IS NOT THE TORNADO that hit Chapman, KS. If you recall...the tornado that tracked from Salina, Chapman to Manhattan, and thru Pottawotomie County and then to Soldier and beyond occurred at night. It was nearing 9:00 p.m. when I got home and first heard word of the bad weather in Salina (and just beginning down there, though we had wicked lightning going on). So...it was almost dark. The tornado hit Chapman near abouts 10:30 p.m. There is NO WAY this image could have been Chapman, though many would like to claim it.

In actuality, see what Snopes says about it HERE.

Tornado track

This is probably the most accurate map I could find that shows the track of the tornado on Wednesday. As with all the other images, be sure to click on it to see it larger. The first marker on the left is right about where it started.




map courtesy of google

Another view

Note: If you haven't seen the first pictures, go to the previous post, and read that one first. These pictures were taken later in the day. I was on my way to check on a few people I knew in the hard hit area. I had made phone calls earlier in the day, but one family had not answered, and I didn't know the phone number for another lady (she is a moderator on Freecycle™ with me, and she's older, so I was worried).


This is another view of Waters, with a warehouse in the back.

Another shot, with the car wash at the far right

IN this shot, on the far left, you can see the large bay door to Gymnastics Plus - it was folded at a 90° angle, OUTWARD. It's amazing to see the flagpole still standing, and the lights, while other poles are bent and broken!

A different angle of the Toyota dealership. By this time, they'd already removed many of the overturned cars and debris. The large Toyota sign that was leaning backwards was gone. This was about 15 hours after the tornado struck.

The Midas Muffler building, in the daylight. Notice the metal wrapped around a guy wire once again...and that white pole with green? That was a billboard.

Waters Hardware...and a still standing flag.

more metal wrapped on wires

Waters, the Carwash, and a long shot of Toyota.


The next pictures were taken on "the hill" in Miller Ranch and the Amherst Drive area (known as University Heights)



This was my first view. I had gone up Drake to check on Lynda, the Freecycle™ moderator (she was fine, though her car is totalled and she has several thousand dollars worth of damage to her home and property), and then I turned onto Fordham and into Cherry Hill to check on the Bandy family (their daughter had a birthday party just this past weekend, and Hannah is good friends with her and was there). Luckily they had no visible damage, though the homes across the street had some. I was just passed their house when I saw the hill in front of me.

When I saw the damage on the hill, I was TRULY worried about the Bovee family. Another of Hannah's classmates, they've had a lot of hardships in the last year and a half, but with amazing faith, have pulled through. (side note: the Bovee family did have some damage to their home. When I spoke to her, she said they had been laying in her son's bed 5 minutes before the tornado hit. The back of the house, which faced the direction of the tornado, didn't appear to have much damage...but the wrapping winds came around and shattered the front windows...where the kids' rooms were...where they had been only 5 minutes earlier. Her husband is currently deployed, but the community strength and spirit was there as the principal of our school was cleaning and fixing and had the kids at his home) So, I drove back to Amherst and threaded my way up the hill. At the top of Amherst, I saw this view.


The path of the tornado was quite clear. Amherst has a sharp jog on it, and it connects to Miller Ranch Drive. Shortly after you turn onto Amherst from Miller Ranch, you come across Peachtree Circle, the next road is Bradford. There is a small road that runs parallel to Amherst and connects Peachtree to Bradford, called Applewood. Only 4 homes on that little road...they took the first and hardest hit. My friend Jo lived on Applewood. By God's good grace, she and her family were not home, they weren't even here in the city. This is Jo's house. The black thing on right is a leather chair. It was big... and it was still there...along with the counter that I'd stood at a few weeks ago.


The destruction is...well, there are NO words...NONE. It's one thing to see pictures or video on television...it's something else entirely to drive by and see it.
This is Bradford...you can see the shock on the faces of the folks walking.


People carry boxes and water to those who are beginning the salvage process.
A home survives, but loses its upper level


It looks like a bomb went off.


The view on Amherst, near the Dartmouth area


homes, trees, and damaged vehicles


trees sheared off...signs in the rubble, homes off their foundations.

This home lost half its roof...

Another view

And yet another...


But the amazing thing? This community has pulled together. As as Chapman, another small town that was hit that same night, about 1/2 hour before us. Chapman has suffered a LOT of damage...they say that the town of 1300 has about 80% loss or damage. All three schools in town are gone. They had one death. But they are okay, and are getting cleaned up and the community is standing by them.

First Images...

These are some of the first images I captured of the tornado. This was about 7:30 a.m. Already, there had been clean up started.


The pile of rubble in the middle of this scene is what remains of Waters True Value Hardware. They remodeled an old warehouse and opened last summer...less than a year ago. On the far left, totally unscathed, is Waters Rental. With less than 50 feet between the two buildings, it's hard to believe that the rental building was untouched! The yellow awning that you see on the right is part of the Midas Muffler Shop. The building has been condemned and will be razed and rebuilt.
This is a closer view of Waters True Value. Notice, the metal, wrapped around the guy wire of the light pole, as though it was paper. If you can, try to spot the water spouting from the center of the pile at Waters. (side note: last week, when we had bad weather and tornado warnings during the supper/early evening hours, the employees of Waters sought shelter in an area they thought was safe. One employee mentioned that the safe area they used was buried under the rubble. Had this storm hit during the business day, many people would have been injured or killed at all these businesses. As it stands, we had no deaths in our area, and few injuries. Most injuries are a result of the clean-up efforts)

This is Little Apple Toyota Honda. Notice on the right, the light pole, completely bent over...as is the stop sign. If you can tell, the glass in the front of the building (floor to ceiling display windows) is all gone.

A long shot of Little Apple Toyota Honda. The blue sign on the right used to have the Honda emblem on it - I heard that it landed in or on the building that houses Gymnastics Plus, which was behind the dealership. Don't know if you can tell, but slightly to the left, the Toyota sign was bent over, leaning backwards.

This is a car wash on the immediate right of the True Value. While it sustained damage, it was still standing. The warehouse behind it lost all its windows and doors. Further behind, you can see a flag pole, with the flag still waving. Behind that, a mass of debris is all that remains of Amherst Storage. Several people I know had things stored there. Unfortunately, it's mostly a total loss...and to top it off, the first night, the Riley County Police arrested 2 looters down there.

Metal siding found in the parking lot of a K-State building on Anderson Avenue. The siding was part of Waters True Value, which, in a direct line, was approximately 1/2 mile away

Debris litters a parking lot on Anderson Avenue. A lot of insulation has been strewn all around town. I have friends who live on the Northeast side of town, and they found paint chip samples on their lawn...several miles away from Waters True Value Hardware. People all over town are finding things on their property...from pictures to divorce papers, to cell phones. We are blessed to have several collection points, and hopefully these items will be reunited with their owners.

This is the fence line at Lee Street Elementary School. This is the only school that sustained any damage in the USD 383 school district. It lost a lot of windows and has a lot of rain damage. This side, where the fence is, had a lot of trees...they are gone as you can see. The school will be repaired and ready to open in August. (side note: today, when I drove by, there were few signs that a tornado had hit...the fence was completely cleaned, no debris remained, either. The only visible signs were the trees sheared off, and the big dent in the fence)