Kansas tornado recovery hampered by dispatch of National Guard to Iraq

The tornado, categorized as an F-5, the highest level, was the strongest recorded in the US since May 1999. The twister was up to 1.7 miles wide, with wind speeds of 205 miles (330 km) per hour.

The 10 deaths mean that 73 people have been killed in tornados in the US so far this year, making 2007 the deadliest year since 1999, with several more months remaining in the tornado season.

The death toll in Greensburg could have even been greater given the enormous destruction the tornado caused. Even the 5 percent of the city that was not destroyed sustained severe damage. Because of a warning given 20 minutes prior to the tornado’s impact, many people were able to retreat to basements.

Greensburg is a small town of 1,600 people in southern Kansas, with a per capita income of $18,054, just over half of the national average. Most of those killed were elderly people, with limited mobility, and without access to basements or cellars in their homes.

“When you look around at the devastation here, it is amazing that there aren’t more deaths,” Sharon Watson, a spokesman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press. “You really can’t look in any direction without seeing destruction, without seeing houses that are demolished, piles of rubble.”

Authorities in Kansas have begun clean-up operations, but Governor Sebelius, a Democrat, said the effort had been hampered by the fact that many of the state’s National Guard troops are in Iraq, along with much of its heavy equipment.

In an interview with CNN Monday, Sebelius said, “I don’t think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters that the response is going to be slower. The real victims here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be at a slower pace.”

She said that neighboring states also lacked equipment to help Kansas. “The issue for the National Guard is the same wherever you go in the country,” she said. “Stuff that we would have borrowed is gone.” She reported that she had asked the Pentagon and the Bush administration in December and January for new equipment to replenish what had been sent to Iraq, but received no response.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/may2007/torn-m09.shtml