Greensburg, Kan. – Most of the debris is gone, the supermarket is moving back and students plan to start school this month in trailers set up as classrooms.
Three months after a tornado killed 10 people and flattened this prairie farming town, locals are slowly rebuilding and planners say they are optimistic about Greensburg’s future. Federal and local officials are even preparing a long-term, environmentally friendly recovery plan, drawing the attention of actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who plans a 13-part reality series called “Eco-Town.”
But many residents remain uncertain about their town’s long-term prospects in the wake of destruction so severe that experts warn it could be a half- decade or more before the community fully returns.
Marion Marrs plans to stay, but he knows others are making a different choice. His wife of five years has lived in Greensburg for nearly 60 years and “she wants to stay here,” he said as he mowed one of his four lots in town. “But all her friends are moving out, most of ’em.”
About 400 people live in Greensburg these days, some 300 of them in Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile homes neatly set up on the edge of town. About 100 remain in homes that suffered relatively light damage in the F5 tornado May 4.
Temporary schools in doublewide trailers are expected to be ready for students on the first day of classes Aug. 15. Officials have begun issuing some building permits, and three mobile restaurants have opened.
In the nearly empty downtown, town officials meet in makeshift offices to engineer the future of a town with damaged infrastructure, few usable buildings, a small staff and property-tax revenue that has dwindled to a trickle.
Debris is piled on street corners, marked with temporary signs so residents can navigate a town without its old landmarks. Entire blocks are empty, pockmarked by holes that once were basements.
Some residents seeking to rebuild complain of being stymied by construction moratoriums imposed while the town ponders its new direction.
Others are considering rebuilding just outside town limits to avoid what they see as inevitable property-tax increases needed to fund the return of police, utilities and other basic services.
