Home2003 Tornado

Tornado victims still 'picking up the pieces'
Saturday, May 8, 2004
A year ago this evening, Randy Lewis stared in awe through the picture window of his southwest Lawrence home as a tornado roared toward him. "I've lived in Kansas most of my life and seen them at a distance, but this one was coming right at us," Lewis said. "We watched it until right at the last minute."

Normal life eludes May tornado victims
Saturday, November 8, 2003
The house on West 26th Street looks much like its neighbors -- a two-story home, construction nearly complete, in one of Lawrence's newer neighborhoods. To Ann Riat, it looks like the finish line of a six-month marathon.

6News video: After six months, tornado victims still picking up pieces
Saturday, November 8, 2003
The tornado flattened several homes and apartments in West Lawrence on May 8, 2003.

Many homes await repairs in wake of May destruction
Saturday, July 12, 2003
Val Smith was at Kansas University the early May evening when a tornado ripped through his southwest Lawrence neighborhood. He hurried to find what had become of his family's home on West 26th Street. He was shocked.

6News video: Houses hit by tornado still need repairs
Saturday, July 12, 2003
Two months after the tornados that swept through Lawrence in early May, several homes have yet to be repaired.

Tornado response garners praise
Thursday, June 12, 2003
It's not a perfect system, officials said, but it's getting close. A month after a tornado ripped through southwest Lawrence, city and county officials say they are satisfied with the emergency response to last month's tornado.

6News video: State to distribute money to build safe rooms
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
6News reports on the money the state will be giving to some residents to help build a safe room in their homes.

Grants to give shelter from storms
Wednesday, June 11, 2003
Lawrence residents hammered by last month's tornadoes soon could get state assistance to help shield them from danger in future storms.

Demolition begins at tornado-ravaged complex
Thursday, May 22, 2003
The tornado did most of the work in a matter of minutes. Now, it will take months to finish what was started May 8. Demolition began Wednesday morning at Aberdeen South apartments, 4700 W. 27th St., the apartment complex hit hardest by the tornado that struck Lawrence. The apartment complex's owner, Mike Stultz, said he hoped to have the demolition -- along with repair work on the other buildings he owned that were hit by the tornado -- completed by Aug. 1.

6News video: Aberdeen apartments demolished after tornado
Thursday, May 22, 2003
The buildings were too damaged by the tornado to be repaired, and so the apartment owners are simply going to tear them down and rebuild.

6News video: FEMA opens center in city
Thursday, May 22, 2003
The federal agency offers a place for victims of the recent tornados to turn.

Former gospel singer comforts with song during storm
Monday, May 19, 2003
Josie Howard uses a wheelchair, has had two hip replacements, and lost much of her motion to rheumatoid arthritis. Her singing voice, however, is capable of taking on a tornado.

Briefly
Saturday, May 17, 2003
• Replacement documents free for storm victims
• Education: KU awards scholarship in memory of student
• Kansas University: Business school honors deceased developer

6News video: Mental trauma from tornadoes starting to surface
Thursday, May 15, 2003
Many people are looking for assistance in coping with the aftereffects of the tornadoes.

Tornado ‘lost and found' services report scant activity
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
When tornadoes strike, they usually carry away more than roofs and siding from homes. Family photographs, papers and other personal items can get sucked into the swirling winds and carried for miles before being dumped in a field or someone's back yard.

6News video: Concrete homes provide tornado proof shelter
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
6News reports on a Lawrence man who says tornado proof homes are possible.

Tornado Aftermath
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
• Donations sought for relief agencies
• Overpass protection bad, climatologist warns
• KU, LHS alumnus helping relief efforts
• Lions Club foundation offers storm victims aid
• City will study shelter requirements

Tornado cleanup efforts not over
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
The landscape still looks ugly, and people continue to struggle. Cleanup and salvage efforts continued Monday throughout the area in southwest Lawrence where a tornado struck five days earlier, causing an estimated $6.4 million in damage.

6News video: Cleanup efforts continue at apartment complex
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
6News reports on the ongoing cleanup at Aberdeen South Apartments five days after it was damaged by a tornado.

6News video: Class back in session at Raintree Montessori
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
6News reports on the reopening of the Raintree Montessori school.

Victims pick up, regroup
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Two days after a tornado pillaged their homes, residents in southwest Lawrence spent Saturday packing up what remained of their belongings.

Silent sirens
Sunday, May 11, 2003

Twister damage tops $6 million
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Hit and miss. That's the best way Ann Riat can describe the destruction from Thursday night's tornado.

Human hazard
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Emergency personnel did a great job Thursday night in spite of their human obstacles. Let's have a big round of applause for all of the weather forecasters, storm spotters and emergency personnel who responded so efficiently to Thursday night's storm.

Rebuilding takes time
Saturday, May 10, 2003
It will take at least six months for all the homes damaged by Thursday evening's tornado to be repaired or replaced, members of the Lawrence construction industry estimated Friday.

Residents recall storm ‘adventure'
Saturday, May 10, 2003
What's worse than being in the path of a tornado? Being in labor in the path of a tornado. Just ask Shannon White, who Thursday night gave birth to Caden Michael. "It was quite an adventure," she said.

Businesses offer help for victims of tornado
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Several Lawrence businesses announced Friday that they'd established special programs to help victims of Thursday's tornado.

Insurance agents expect quick claims
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Lawrence insurance agents said Friday that claims adjusters were responding to the needs of storm victims as quickly as possible and hoped to reach most of them by today.

Disaster response agencies kept busy by rash of storms
Saturday, May 10, 2003
After a week of long days, Joy Moser was supposed to head to bed early Thursday. But the Lawrence tornado ruined her plans.

Churches to take offerings for tornado victims
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Lawrence churches have staged their first attempts to mobilize aid for congregation members and the wider community after the havoc caused by Thursday's tornado.

Students struck by tornado still concerned with finals
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Melanie Michael was supposed to take her final exams at Kansas University next week, but most of her notes and books were in her Mazda Protege that now has half an apartment building on top of it.

Southwest ‘dodges reaper,' superintendent says
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Lawrence Supt. Randy Weseman said Friday that the district was lucky to "dodge the reaper" because Southwest Junior High School's portable classrooms were empty when a tornado thundered past.

Raintree Montessori pulls together -- again
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Dozens of volunteers Friday gathered debris and made repairs at Raintree Montessori School after the school's second brush with tragedy in less than three years.

Workers, neighbors pitch in
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Rita Rials wasn't affiliated with the Red Cross before Thursday night. But after a tornado touched down in her neighborhood south of Clinton Parkway, Rials made an impromptu decision to volunteer at a Red Cross tent.

Onlookers kept away from site
Saturday, May 10, 2003
Joe Wetten, frantically driving from Kansas City to his home on West 26th Street, was anxious to see whether Thursday's tornado had hit his home.

City, Douglas County have no public shelters
Saturday, May 10, 2003
If a tornado's bearing down, you're on your own. Lawrence and Douglas County have no officially designated storm shelters for public use, emergency management officials said Friday.

Some residents critical of sirens
Saturday, May 10, 2003
No one died, few were hurt and officials said the sirens sounded 27 minutes before a tornado touched down in southwest Lawrence, beating even the National Weather Service warning.

6News video: Governor tours tornado damaged area
Saturday, May 10, 2003
6News reports on Governor Kathleen Sebelius' visit to tornado damaged areas in Lawrence on Friday.

6News video: Residents continue cleanup
Saturday, May 10, 2003
6News reports on some of the cleanup to be done in Lawrence after Thursday nights tornado.

Twisters roll across state, but injuries at a minimum
Friday, May 9, 2003
At least seven tornadoes Thursday night swept across Kansas, damaging homes and buildings and uprooting trees in several counties, but there were no immediate reports of any deaths, and just a few injuries.
Two people were admitted to Allen County Hospital in Iola after being hit by debris from a tornado that passed through neighboring Woodson County. June Reynolds, the acting hospital administrator, said neither was seriously injured.

Damage, but none dead
Friday, May 9, 2003
Its path through southwest Lawrence was short but ferocious, leaving roofless homes, overturned cars and shaken residents. No major injuries were reported in the first few hours after a tornado hit Thursday evening, but the storm cleared a swath of property on the edge of town, causing major damage to 40 homes and six apartment buildings.

Governor tours Lawrence tornado damage
Friday, May 9, 2003
(Updated Friday at 5:12 p.m.) Southwest Lawrence was cleaning up Friday morning from a tornado that ripped roofs off homes, overturned cars and blasted out windows Thursday evening. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius visited the site Friday afternoon, promising to work to get help for the victims.

Apartment complex at center of storm
Friday, May 9, 2003
For most residents of the southwest Lawrence neighborhood slammed by a tornado Thursday evening, it was their first experience with a twister.

Eyewitnesses describe wrath of tornado
Friday, May 9, 2003
The tornado that hit southwest Lawrence left devastation, debris and some moments that many residents will never forget.

'81 twister hit city's S.W. side
Friday, May 9, 2003
The last tornado to slam Lawrence also hit the city's southwest side, leaving one man dead and 33 people injured.

Residents bewildered after narrow escape
Friday, May 9, 2003
Jim and Susan DeVore took shelter the only place they could Thursday night -- and a mattress might have saved their lives.

Officials ask onlookers to stay away
Friday, May 9, 2003
Minutes after a tornado lifted out of southwest Lawrence Thursday night, Wakarusa Drive and Clinton Parkway were clogged with sightseers in cars and on foot.

Sunflower, Southwest Junior High closed
Friday, May 9, 2003
Two Lawrence public schools will be closed today while officials assess possible damage from a tornado and strong winds that whipped through the area Thursday night.

Help available for those left homeless by storm
Friday, May 9, 2003
Free State High School was commandeered to serve as an emergency shelter Thursday night after a tornado struck southwest Lawrence, wrecking dozens of homes and apartments.

6News video: Twisters damage several homes
Friday, May 9, 2003
The tornados flipped cars in a housing development just off Clinton Parkway.

6News video: Home video shows funnel coming from wall cloud
Friday, May 9, 2003
Amit Kashyap provided the home video of the funnel touching the ground.

6News video: While many homes were damaged, no serious injuries
Friday, May 9, 2003
The storms scattered debris across neighborhoods.

6News video: The tornado was estimated at a mile wide at one point
Friday, May 9, 2003
Fortunately, the tornado lost most of its strength by the time it reached Lawrence, minimizing the damage it could have caused.

Wedding dress survives tornado
Friday, May 9, 2003
Jennifer Wells' new home didn't make it through a tornado that devastated this Kansas City suburb just three days before her wedding. But her dress did.

Tornado touches down in southwest Lawrence
Thursday, May 8, 2003
(Updated Friday at 1:03 p.m.)  A tornado touched down early Thursday evening in southwest Lawrence, churning a line of property damage from roughly 27th and Scottsdale to an area just northeast of Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Drive.