Milton resident Daryl Warner is in Greensburg, Kansas.

What is he doing there? Good question.

Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by a tornado on May 4, 2007. The town is rebuilding itself and going “green” in the process. Any rebuilding effort of this scale takes a lot of time, money, and resource.

The town has taken this tragic event and viewed it as an opportunity start from scratch with an environmentally conscious town infrastructure. For example, the owners of the local John Deere dealership, which was leveled, plan to rebuild it to “platinum” green standards as determined by the U.S. Green Building Council. About their decision Mike Estes said this, “We’re looking at saving money here; truthfully, we are. We’re running a business. If we can’t make this make sense, why would we do it?”  (for CNN coverage of the decision of Greensburg to go green see related links at the bottom of this post.)

Mr. Warner has gone to Greensburg as part of a group to assist in the rebuilding effort. A strong advocate for renewable energy, he is a member of the Milton Wind Energy Committee.

He arrived in Greensburg last Sunday. The group he arrived with slept on the floor of the rebuilt Methodist Church.

Warner provided some context for scope of the tornado that hit Greensburg. In an email he wrote,  “The average tornado is 75 yards wide with a track of 1 to 4 miles long. The tornado that destroyed Greensburg was 1.7 miles wide with a track of 22 miles long and wind speeds in excess of 200 mph.”

He also noted, “Kansas is flat. Grain elevators are everywhere. Sparse stands of trees, oil wells, windmills (not turbines), power poles and cell towers dot the horizon. Most roads are straight and terminate at the horizon.”

Daryl took a couple of pictures. We hope to get an update soon.

Related Links:

• Greensburg Kansas Recovery Plan from the town’s web site
• CNN article on Greensburg going green: In wake of twister, Kansas town is rebuilding green