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=__Tornado Takes The Town __=

A deadly tornado strikes a small town in Kansas.
The deadly tornado that hit the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, on May 4, 2007, took its time rolling up Main Street. Marvin George, a pastor at the Baptist church, found shelter in a closet. "I wasn't scared until the next morning," he says. That's when he saw the storm's damage. The tornado had measured 5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the highest possible rating. The National Weather Service uses the scale to measure tornado damage. It estimates that during an EF-5 tornado, winds blow at speeds above 200 miles per hour. The twister left hardly a single wall standing. "Big strong men looked at what was left and were near in tears," remembers Lonnie McCollum, who was then the town's mayor. More than 1,000 people that's about two-thirds of the southern Kansas town's population were left without homes.

Starting School Without Homes
At the start of the school year, 80% of the students in Greensburg were classified as homeless. "The first day of school was the first time some of the kids saw their classmates again," Darin Headrick, Greensburg's schools superintendent, told TFK. "But the normalcy of school is good for healing." And healing is just what Greensburg's citizens have been doing this yearoalong with planning, planting and building. Many saw in the town's devastation a blank slate on which to create a model community by building greener, more energy efficient homes and offices. "This is an amazing opportunity," says Daniel Wallach, a businessman from a nearby town who formed the nonprofit group Greensburg GreenTown. "It could demonstrate to the rest of the country and the world what a town of the future could look like." Wallach and others set out to show Greensburg's citizens that going green isn't just about climate change or saving polar bears. Their lives could be transformed. They could cut waste, save on rising fuel bills and build a better town. "Our old church sometimes cost up to $1,000 a month to heat," says George. The church will be rebuilt to meet the highest green standards. "We have to be responsible for how we use resources," he says.

Going Green
Greensburg's leaders hope that their efforts will attract attention, businesses and new jobs. Starting on June 15, Planet Green, which is part of the Discovery Channel, will showcase the town's rebuilding story in a 13-part series. Consultants from the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory are helping residents build new houses that are up to 50% more energy efficient than their old homes. In early January, the city council approved an ambitious master plan. Under the plan, all public buildings in Greensburg would meet the highest level of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. That's something no other town in America has ever tried.

Kids can help
Hundreds of Greensburg's citizens worked on the plan. Many more are helping to resurrect their community. Kids are pitching in too. "You'll see kids at every meeting, sitting at the table," says Headrick. Earlier this month, the town's high school students planted 65 trees. Today, Greensburg is living up to the "green" in its name. Its leaders say that a solid foundation is being set for the future. John Janssen, the town's mayor, promises, "We're going to be one of the greenest towns in the world."

//by Bryan Walsh// //**[|Time For Kids]**//