Chapman took an even more extensive hit
Megan Moser Contributing writer
CHAPMAN — When the tornado hit the middle school, it sounded like the freight train that passed by Katrina Arensman's home every day, speeding by on its track with no intention and no means of stopping. In fact, Arensman said, she thought it was the train until her ears started popping and someone told her that what she heard was a tornado, categorized as F-3 or greater, destroying the school around them.
Arensman and her husband, Zac were in their mobile home with two of their four kids, celebrating their first anniversary, when they learned that the tornado was coming at 10:15 p.m. Quickly, they drove to the nearby middle school and took shelter in the locker room showers, minutes before the storm hit at 10:21 p.m.
They left to find that the locker rooms and the gym between them were the only parts of the school that had survived.
"When it was over, the room was filled with dust," said Arensman, who is five months pregnant. "We walked out into the gym and it was raining in the gym. All the lights were down on the floor. There was standing water on the floor. Everything else was gone."
Arensman and the other people at the middle school went to a nursing home for a few hours before they were taken to the American Red Cross emergency shelter at Sterl Hall in Abilene. They hadn't been back to see whether their house was still standing.
"I won't live in another trailer," Arensman said with a small laugh, and pointed at her husband. "I was telling him, 'The next place has got to have a basement.'"
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Volunteers at the shelter in Abilene were prepared for as many as 200 people, with cots, food and hot showers next door at the National Guard Armory. Only about 20 stayed Wednesday night, but more people were planning to stay Thursday night as people saw the extent of the damage to their homes.
The shelter had two main rooms; one with cots for sleeping, and the other with tables and chairs where people could eat, talk, or play cards, as one man did Thursday afternoon.
Large sheets of paper had been posted on one wall where people left messages offering spare rooms, rides and food. One entry pleaded for a missing person to call his parents, chiding him in magic marker that they were worried.
Susan Dauber, one of the shelter's organizers, said the response from the community had been overwhelming.
"We've had people bring things from crayons to a whole meal," said Dauber, who, like many volunteers, had been up all night Wednesday working. "We have pastoral care; three ministers have come so far. We also set up a play area because we've had lots of little ones."
Volunteers passed out "comfort kits" with items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and soap. They offered coffee and doughnuts to shell-shocked victims as they trickled in, and busily prepared for the influx of people they expected later in the day.
Dauber said the shelter would remain open until no more people need their help.
"We'll stay as long as there is a need," Dauber said.
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In Chapman, part of the town brings to mind New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Houses have been moved off their foundations and cars are upended against telephone poles. Trees are broken and leaning grotesquely into the streets and on lawns. The ones that still stand are missing most of their branches and leaves.
But it resembles New Orleans in more than just damage. Each house is marked with symbols and a spray-painted "X," showing not only that it has been searched, but also who searched it, whether they found anyone inside, and whether those people were OK.
The other part of the town, whose population is about 1,250, looks more like Greensburg after its tornado last year — everything is leveled. This part of town, from Fourth Street to Eighth Street, was evacuated and no one but the rescue workers is allowed inside. All three schools have been reduced to a pile of rubble. Two of the churches are gone, as well.
Brad Homman, director of administration and emergency services for Dickinson County, said he estimated 50-60 percent of the community of about 65 buildings, had been destroyed, creating $20,220,000 in damage, $14 million of which was damage to local schools alone.
Though the damage was significant, Homman adopted a glass-is-half-full attitude, and pointed out that it was not a complete loss.
"We still have half the town," Homman said.
By 1 p.m. Thursday, crews had completed primary, secondary and canine searches. Still they had only one confirmed death and knew of no missing people, Homman said.
National guardsmen patrol the littered streets in camouflaged Hummers. Workers from the telephone company are perched up in their cherry-pickers trying to repair the many downed lines.
On the sidewalk outside of Butterfield Trail nursing home, Otto and Dixie Kracke sit in lawn chairs watching the commotion like it's a parade — which it nearly is. In addition to all the emergency personnel, a small caravan of golf carts carrying Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and some other politicians just went by.
"He wouldn't leave the room, so I wasn't going to leave him alone," Dixie said. "I figured that way, if one of us goes, we both go."
Sebelius and Rep. Jerry Moran later addressed members of the media. Moran said this marked the third major tornado in his district since he had been in office. The first was Hoisington, followed by Greensburg and Chapman.
"I think the story of what FEMA is going to do is largely going to be the story of what the people of Chapman will do," Moran said. "This is their home. They will do everything they can to rebuild and restore this community and make it a viable place for not only their family, but their kids and grandkids."
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Officials set up a blockade on the roads going into Chapman. Wednesday night after the tornado, they wouldn't let people into the town because the darkness made it too dangerous. By Thursday, they were allowing only people with identification showing a Chapman address to enter.
Dozens of residents waited all day in the parking lot of a convenience store to get permission to go back to their homes. Cars lined both sides of the narrow road all the way back to the exit from Interstate 70.
By Thursday afternoon, officials were helping to verify the residency of people with no identification so they could get back into town. They began handing out wristbands with people's addresses on them to make the process easier.
For several days, residents will have a curfew of 9 p.m. and must remain in their homes until 6 a.m. Thursday and Friday were reserved for residents' "personal recovery," and Saturday, crews would begin debris removal. Homman said he expected the town to be open to the public by Sunday. Though water was working, the pressure was so low that the town was under a boil advisory.
Chapman resident Justin Minzghor waited in line Thursday afternoon to get a wristband and get back to his home, which had only minimal damage. He had left to get cigarettes that morning and was not allowed back into town, so he had been waiting at the blockade since 9 a.m.
"You can tell that there's a little bit of damage, but a lot of other places had it worse," he said. "I've never been in a tornado. I've only seen this on the news. Now I am the news."
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