By Staff
A powerful tornado which all but wiped Greensburg, Kan., off the map surprisingly "only" killed 11 people, thanks to a 20-minute warning that gave residents time to scramble for shelter.
This 1.7-mile-wide Category F-5 twister was the most powerful to slam the United States in eight years, destroying 95 percent of the southwest Kansas town of 1,400 May 4.
The leveling of Greensburg also left 13 people hospitalized – four in critical condition.
In a tornado-prone region, residents saved themselves by knowing what to do when they heard a rarely-issued "tornado emergency" alert and scurried for basement cover.
A tornado emergency means an extremely dangerous storm is bearing down on a populated area.
One was last issued in 1999 when an F-5 tornado struck Oklahoma City, killing 36 people.
A typical tornado's lead time is 10 to 18 minutes, but this one was so monstrous it was simpler to spot and to predict its path.
President Bush's hugs lifted crushed spirits May 9.
He said he toured the devastation in hopes of "touching somebody's soul by representing our country. A lot of us have seen the pictures about what happened here and pictures don't do it justice."
Bush picked his way on foot down streets reduced to snarled wood, glass, wires and mud by roaring 205-mph winds.
Emergency aid had already been ordered, so the president came in an empathetic gesture.
"While there was a dark day in the past, there's brighter days ahead," he assured his fellow Americans.
"It let us know he cared about us," said homeowner Kaye Hardinger, who told Bush she would have "invited him in for a cup of coffee, but I didn't have time to dust."
Thank goodness so many found safety. It could have been so much worse. Pictures make that much abundantly clear.