Return to Russell

Yesterday I finally got the chance to do something that had been weighing heavily on my heart for weeks.  I was able to return to Russell, KS and speak with some of the neighbors of the woman whose house was destroyed by an EF-2 tornado on May 25th.  It was so important for me to be able to go back and stand where I stood that night; take it all in with a blue sky and bright sun overhead.  Obviously most of the debris had been cleaned up by then but it was still evident what had gone on in this small neighborhood just outside of Russell.

I picked through some of the debris for a little while and then ventured across the street to the neighbor's house which still had tarps on the roof.  No one answered when I rang the doorbell, but as I was walking away a truck pulled into the driveway with a man and two small boys.  The boys had these little buzzcut blonde mohawks and chocolate all over their faces.  I asked the man if his wife was home and he said she owned a little store down on Main Street and would be at work the rest of the day.  I then told him who I was and that I was there that night.  He seemed a little hesitant to talk to me, but I think he could tell it meant a lot to me because he started to open up a little more.  He told me that a lot of the homes that had damage were still waiting to be repaired and probably wouldn't have work done on them until after harvest season.  He also told me that they brought Pat to the hospital in Hays (much larger than the little medical center in Russell) a few days after the tornado where the doctors found much more extensive injuries than they originally had known about.  She has a broken chest plate, clavicle and neck among other injuries.  But he said she was back in the Russell hospital and was starting to get around her room with a walker.  We talked a little bit longer and I told him how scared I was that night and that I think of their family often.  He asked his little boys if they were scared that night and the older one told me it woke him up while the younger little guy, maybe 4 or 5, told me it sounded like a train was in the chimney.

After talking with the family, we walked around a little bit longer and spoke with another man who had over $80,000 worth of damage on his property.  He told me they had no warning whatsoever because the power had been knocked out earlier in the evening and the sirens in town had no battery backup system.  He was so sincere when he thanked us for what we do with our research because he wished they had more time before the tornado.  On the way out of town, I left the flashlight I had borrowed from the family across the street on the front porch.

It may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people.  But for me, this night was life-changing.  My heart breaks when I see people upset or hurting.  I remember my first trip to NYC at age 14 where I cried myself to sleep in the hotel room because of all the homeless people huddled in cardboard on the street.  It is such a dichotomy.  I love storms and tornadoes (maybe more than anything else in the world) but to see how they ruin and change lives in a heartbeat almost makes you feel a little guilty.  Sure this wasn't a large, multiple vortex, long track tornado that wiped an entire town off the map killing tens of people in his wake.  But an event like this one doesn't have to be on that type of scale to move and affect you.  I think we could all use a little more compassion and vulnerability.  People always say not to sweat the small stuff; but maybe we shouldn't reach for that anti-perspirant just yet.  We can be so quick to shrug our shoulders and turn a blind eye sometimes when we really should be reaching out a hand and counting our own blessings.  Please continue to keep this little community, and all others impacted by tornadoes and severe weather, in your prayers and thoughts!

Pictures I took that night:

Almost three weeks later: