We have just started tornado season and already towns in Oklahoma have suffered devastation. I always like to think that even from the worst of times can come something good. You may wonder how anything good can come from a tornado, but let me tell you about Greensburg, Kansas.
A mile and a half wide EF5 tornado, the highest ranked on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, tore through Greensburg on the night of May 4, 2007. EF5 winds are greater than 200 miles per hour. Houses can be blown off their foundations and automobiles can fly through the air during an EF5. After the tornado was over, eleven people were dead and ninety percent of the community was homeless, with at least 95 percent of Greensburg was leveled.
You almost wonder how a town can recover from that. Officials decided early on they wanted to rebuild in a green way. In fact, then Mayor Lonnie McCollum told the media within 12 hours of the tornado “And by the way, we’re gonna rebuild green.” The town chose to call itself “America’s Model Green Community.”
They rebuilt the City Hall from reclaimed brick and wood. Oh yeah, it is also energy efficient too. They used sun and wind power to run the art center. Homes were rebuilt green, not only making the community more efficient, but bringing it together. There is a wind farm of 10 turbines that can power 4,000 households.
The Centura Bank was in one of the two downtown buildings that wasn’t destroyed by the tornado. However, embracing the green city plans, bank officials decided to build a structure that was LEED certified. The new bank has high efficiency windows and doors, natural daylight, reflective roofing, solar tubes for lighting, water saving sinks in the bathroom, and insulating concrete form walls.
This past May marked the third anniversary of the tornado and while the town held events in remembrance of those lost, it also celebrated its continued rebirth.