U.S. Senator Pat Roberts Thursday released a statement and video to recognize and commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the Greensburg tornado.
Senator Pat Roberts released the video and details on the 10th anniversary:
On May 4, 2007, an EF-5 tornado ripped through the western Kansas town of Greensburg, destroying nearly 95 percent of the city and killing 11 people.
Roberts’ efforts began immediately. In the pre-dawn hours after the deadly storm, Senator Roberts drove to Greensburg to meet with emergency responders and to ensure the state and local authorities had everything they needed to help Kansans in need. He toured the area, was briefed by officials on the ground, and then traveled to a shelter that had been set up for victims.
After consoling many whose homes had been wiped off the map and armed with his own accounts of the damage of the storm and the needs of the residents, Senator Roberts called President George W. Bush from a McDonald’s restaurant in Pratt – the first place he could get cellular phone service.
Roberts told the President that emergency disaster declaration requests would be coming from the governor and urged his immediate approval. Before Roberts could even finish the request, President Bush assured Senator Roberts the state would have whatever it needed.
Senator Roberts invited President Bush to the state to review the damage first hand, and the president accepted. A few days later, Roberts and Bush led the Kansas Congressional delegation through the town to meet with affected families and businesses.
At the same time, Roberts’ staff immediately responded by opening offices on the weekend to field calls from citizens in need. Senator Roberts tapped one of his senior staffers, Mel Thompson, to full time work in and around Greensburg. Mel was on site every day for months and remained in the community on a regular basis for more than a year.
One of the first pieces of federal assistance to come was FEMA’s declaration that Greensburg and surrounding communities would receive 100 percent reimbursement for any costs incurred during the 72 hours following the storm. Usually, FEMA only covers up to 75 percent of the costs, but with Senator Roberts’ help, the agency agreed that the damage in Greensburg warranted a full reimbursement for reconstruction.
Likewise, Senator Roberts moved to develop federal relief programs for victims of the storm. The Senate passed a package of tax relief provisions, the Kansas Disaster Tax Relief Assistance Act (S. 1532), which was later added to the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, commonly referred to as the Farm Bill and passed into law.
The legislation provided small businesses with an employee retention tax credit and increased the expensing limit for businesses who continued to pay their employees while the city was rebuilding. The new rules allowed small businesses to expense up to 50 percent of the clean-up and demolition costs during the renovation process. Finally, the bill waived the penalty for early withdrawal from IRA and other retirement plans for affected individuals.
Following Hurricane Katrina, Greensburg became the national model for rebuilding from a natural disaster. State, local and federal governments worked together to rapidly rebuild and assist those in need based on the model that Senator Roberts’ helped to create in Kansas.
Senator Roberts was honored to be asked to address the Greensburg High School graduation twice, once with President George W. Bush. He recognized each member of the class and declared them the “Class of Dedication and Hope” in 2007 for their perseverance.