User blog:Jarrell Tornado/May 4, 2003; 2007

Today marks a date in which tornadoes changed many lives in their respective years of occurrence. On this day in 2003, 86 tornadoes touched down on the most prolific day of what would become the record for the most tornadoes recorded in a single period of continuous activity (401). Four F4 tornadoes were recorded among that number: one in and around Franklin, Kansas; two in Kansas City, Missouri; and another in Jackson, Tennessee. The Franklin tornado killed one; the first Kansas City tornado killed two; and the Jackson tornado killed eleven, and each incurred millions in damages.

However, the largest event on this date was what took a city in the night. In what today makes only a decade ago, the Greensburg, Kansas tornado swept through the city of its namesake near the end of its path. It was not until the sun's rays revealed devastation the next morning that the extent of the damage was known. 95% of the city severely damaged or destroyed, $153 million in damages, and 11 lives lost. This tornado had the unique distinction of becoming the first EF5 on the then-newly implemented Enhanced Fujita Scale, which had been issued just three months prior. The rating was applied to four homes among dozens of others swept away in a EF4 fashion across the local high school which were well-bolted to their foundations, warranting an EF5 rating at those residences. Overall, the storm's track was 22 miles long, and at its widest, the funnel was 1.7 miles wide. Greensburg was declared a disaster zone and fully evacuated due to the destruction wrought by the wedge. Within the time from then and now, however; the community did not lose hope, but took advantage of the disaster to make itself something better. Updated building techniques, tornado shelters and while having half the population it once had prior to the storm, all signal the signs of the community's unyielding hope and rebound since the tragedy.