“The Future Is Now”

For those of you that do not get the Planet Green channel, let’s start with the narrative given at the start of the program by Leonardo DiCaprio:

On May 4, 2007 Greensburg Kansas was destroyed by EF-5 tornado. Left with nothing, this small farming community took an amazing leap of faith, they decided to build the greenest town in America. Eco-friendly homes and business’s began to rise out of the rubble, but the challenges have been enormous. Main Street is still a work in progress, civic buildings are just now being built and some of the townspeople continue to wait for new homes. Yet, the people of Greensburg remain undaunted, they are pushing forward everyday to accomplish their dream. (more…)

Here is the article on how monstrous the Greensburg tornado really was.

Greensburg study finds that storm contained 22 tornadoes

By STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle

The first in-depth study of the Greensburg, Kan., tornado has uncovered new
details about one of the strongest and most dramatic tornado outbreaks ever
recorded.

“There are a lot of things in that storm that made me go, ‘Wow,’” said Les Lemon,
a co-author of the study and research associate meteorologist with the Cooperative
Institute in Mesoscale Meteorological Studies at the University of Oklahoma. (more…)

Planet Green is now in Greensburg filming 6 new episodes on how the town is
coming along in their effort to be the first green town in America.

They also went on the trip to China for the EcoPartnership with a town hit by the
earthquakes. There were 4 guys from Greensburg that went on that trip. The new mayor
(Bob Dixon) the City Administrator (Steve Hewitt) the Superintendent (Darin Headrick)
and the President of the Chamber (Steve Kirk).

Greensburg was one of seven governmental or business entities of this country signing
separate cooperative agreements with corresponding Chinese agencies as part of the
American-Sino affair. Greensburg’s agreement was a three-year cooperative partnership
with the Chinese city of Mianzhu, a part of Sichuan Province, where a devastating
earthquake last May 12 killed nearly 100,000 Chinese, including around 10,000 school (more…)

Back on the Map!

Ron Shank and Levi Garrett described how scared they were with the weather
that had the tornado whistle blowing.  Everyone hit the bunkers and waited
for the storm to pass.  Ron’s GM Dealership had some hail damage. The new
church suffered some water damage.

City Council meet to get BNIM’s Master plan approved and the presentation is made.
Council approves the plan with a 5-0 vote. (more…)

May 2008

The new city council is meeting for the first time.  Mayor Dixson asked Steve
Hewitt to give the administration update.  Steve lets the council know that
the business incubator is fully funded.  Kim Alderfer, Recovery Coordinator,
and Steve visit the business incubator site only to find that 3 days of rain
has slowed all activity.

Tyler Schmidt is running for student body president.  Shane Engelken is also
running for student body president.  They put their flyers together, hung
them in the most unique areas and are getting their speeches ready. (more…)

April 29, 2008
One year after the tornado

Farrell Allison’s house is being invaded by CBS news.  Greensburg is getting
ready for the 1 year anniversary.  They are going to break ground on the business
incubator, a memorial service for those that died due to the tornado, and
re-dedicate the new water tower.   The seniors will be graduating, and the
President will be in town.

Dealing with the news media gives them exposure to hopefully extra monies to (more…)

Greensburg is in repeats right now so there are no new updates for you
today. Planet Green is taking a holiday along with the rest of us!

Hurricane Gustav is projected in a beeline right for me. So, forgive me
if this is too short and sweet as I need to prepare for the onslaught of
10 inches of rain and high winds starting late tonight and running through
Thursday.

Battening down the hatches, mates, we are in for a big blow but not as bad
as the Gulf Coast, mainly Louisiana, is fixin to feel.

Lessons were learned from Katrina. I will tell you this much, there have
been massive evacuation efforts going on over the weekend. Nursing homes
here in East Texas have gained anywhere from 60 to 100 extra patients.
Hospitals here are wall to wall gurneys. Prisons are being evacuated as well.
Let’s just say that all roads out of major cities have become one way and
folks are taking heed to leave. All Hotels/Motels are booked solid, We are
all hunkerin down cause there is no where else to go.

I will keep you updated as the week continues with hopes of keeping electricity
throughout. LOL, LOL, LOL…. I crack me up!