Kansas Tornado Update

Kansas Tornado Destroys Homes of 11 Church Families
Date: Monday, May 07 @ 16:56:24 EDT
Erik TryggestadThe Christian Chronicle

Eleven families who attend the Mullinville, Kan., church lost their homes when a tornado demolished the nearby town of Greensburg, claiming 10 lives.The Friday night storm, more than a mile wide, tore the carpet from floors and destroyed about 95 percent of the buildings in the southern Kansas town of about 1,500 people, said Mullinville church member Sandy Mosshart, who is coordinating her congregation’s response. Most of the church members in Greensburg rode out the storm in their basements or shelters. One of the church’s deacons donned a motorcycle helmet and gave his wife a construction hardhat as the storm moved overhead, Mosshart said.Though no members were injured, the families emerged after the storm to find their homes reduced to concrete slabs. “It just cleaned off their homes,” Mullinville minister Russell Scott said.Only one of the members’ homes was left mostly intact by the storm — a mobile home, oddly enough, Mosshart said. As disaster workers sifted through the rubble Monday, displaced church members stayed in the homes of relatives or fellow members in Mullinville, about 10 miles west of Greensburg. Several church-supported relief agencies are sending assistance.Workers with Nashville, Tenn.-based Churches of Christ Disaster Relief Effort delivered water and food to the area late Saturday, executive director Joe Dudney said. A tractor-trailer truck of cleaning supplies, blankets and other necessities is due to arrive at the Mullinville church Tuesday, with additional trucks of supplies, including generators, to follow, Dudney said.The Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team is sending a mobile kitchen to feed displaced Greensburg residents and relief workers. The 30-foot kitchen, capable of feeding 5,000 people per day, should arrive in Greensburg later this week, said Laura Cremeans, a coordinator of the West Melbourne, Fla.-based ministry. The ministry also is sending supply trailers filled with tools and new clothing, Cremeans said.“The response has just been astronomical,” Mosshart said. Though the ministries are helping the church members and other Greensburg residents with their immediate needs, “we’ll need help from the brotherhood to rebuild,” she said.

Donations to rebuild homes destroyed by May 4 tornado may be sent to: Mullinville Church of Christ, P.O. Box 184, Mullinville, KS 67109-0184.