Greensburg and La Plata Tornado Anniversaries
This weekend is near the anniversary of the F-5 tornado that destroyed the town of Greensburg, KS, and also the strongest tornado in Maryland's history. Here is a brief review of each of them along with links.
On May 4, 2007, a huge EF-5 tornado (the first EF-5, and the first "5" strength storm since 1999) destroyed 95% of the town of Greensburg, Kansas and killed 11 people, causing $153 million in damages [WikiPedia Greensburg & Tornado Outbreak].
You can read all the blog entries that I wrote about the tornado, showing incredible video, photos, and radar shot in my "Greensburg Tornado" Category (PREMIUM | PRO). Below are links to two video blogs that I did about the storm, the first showing the radar in detail, the second showing before-and-after shots of the town in Google Earth.
OTHER LINKS:
- NWS "1 Year Later" PDF With Photos, Stats- NWS "Then And Now" PDF With Photos- Kansas.Gov Damage Photos
KAKE says that the town is having an all-weekend event to celebrate their recovery. CNN explains more about how the town is rebuilding as a "green" town. The Discovery Channel's Planet Green channel is starting Season 2 of their series "Greensburg" this week, and has a lot of great links on their site. To demonstrate one of their new tornado-proof homes, they dropped a car on the roof of one - NBC13 has the video (be patient, their video player is really slow but this vid is better than the one from the AP/KAKE which was too far away). NEW: CBS News has an excellent look back video at the town's progress -- half their residents (about 800) left after the tornado, but 150 homes have been rebuilt.
On April 28, 2002, an F-4 tornado cut a 24-mile long path through the city of La Plata, Maryland. It was the strongest tornado to ever hit the state.
The Baltimore Weather Examiner has an anniversary blog about the event and the NWS has some incredible photos of the tornado and damage, including the one below of a SECOND tornado over water and hail the size of a DVD. Interesting note - at least one of the buildings rebuilt was also "green" adhering to LEED standards as the entire town of Greensburg is aiming to do.
OTHER LINKS:
- NWS Meteorologist Page With Radar Shots, Scientific Papers- Satellite Images Show Tornado's Long Track
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