Southern Tornadoes stir memories of Kansas City

Images of the devastation in Alabama this week brought back memories for Ray Stegmèn, emergency Manager in Kiowa County, Kan., on 4 May 2007 monster tornado tore through Greensburg, the county seat, killing 12 and 95% of the city center. , Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images

President Bush flies over Greensburg, Kan., May 9, 2007 at the marine as he tours area stuck in Deadly Tornadoes.

Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images

President Bush flies over Greensburg, Kan., May 9, 2007 at the marine as he tours area stuck in Deadly Tornadoes.

Tornado sirens sounded in Greensburg, 20 minutes before the Tornado hit may save lives, Stegmèn said. Despite this, due to a tornado destroyed four of the sirens, and they do not have a backup battery they do now, he said, and other things have changed in Greensburg after the deadly F5 Twister. Annual meeting for storm spotters have greater participation and more reconstructed houses basements where residents could seek refuge, Stegmèn said. Some old buildings have new underground storm shelters. system for determining a tornado and beep code remains the same: If the national weather service issued a tornado warning and sent notification, spotters look to the sky. Before the 2007 Greensburg Tornado Stegmèn, two other spotters and Deputy Sheriff were observing clouds. Stegmèn also was watching radar imagery on his cell phone when he saw a "Hook echo" feature of the supercell thunderstorms producing Tornadoes over the line, he instructed the Kiowa Sheriff's Department dispatcher include sirens. "Do not disconnect them until I tell you," said Manager Stegmèn. once the quarter mile, Tornado sirens faltered, "says Stegmèn. after the storm, five new sirens were installed, each with battery backup. Spending more money to get the system back up, he said. Greensburg is still recovering. When a tornado with winds estimated at 205 miles per hour that struck the central city of Kansas was about 1400 inhabitants. Now it is about half that number. Many houses, businesses and Government buildings were restored of energy efficiency standards. In the city tourist attractions, the world's largest hand-dug well and 1000 pound meteorite, survived. Four years after the disaster, Greensburg takes every tornado, warning seriously. "It's still all in mind, that is for sure," says Stegmèn. now that the dark clouds on the horizon "to make you a little more difficult," said Michael Taylor, 56, who owns the Greensburg convenience store. "You've got a little more respect for the Weather now."For more information about Reprint permissions, visit our FAQ &. Report corrections and clarifications, contact standards editor Brent Jones. For consideration of publication in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and State to check. To view our corrections, go to corrections usatoday.com. We have updated the guidelines talk. Changes include a brief overview of the approval process and explains how to use the button "report abuse". For More Information.