Extensive cleanup effort underway after EF3 tornado strikes Grinnell
GRINNELL, Kan. (KWCH) - Tuesday update: The National Weather Service in Goodland has rated the powerful storm that heavily damaged much of the town of Grinnell in Gove County Sunday night as an EF3 tornado.
More than a dozen homes in the town of about 260 people were damaged or destroyed, downed power lines knocked out power and several families were displaced by the violent storm. Still, the overall morale in the community remains strong, with one critical stat: In Grinnell, no one was killed or seriously injured in the tornado. Gove County Sheriff Shawn Mesch said the community is fortunate, considering the power of the force that tore through town.
“Holy cow, it was amazing, the damage that occurred in a short amount of time,” said Mesch. “I think the big thought process was, ‘Things can be replaced, people can’t,’ and it’s amazing that no one was injured.”
Tornado siren malfunction
As the storm ed through Gove County, people noticed the south siren was not sounding. The issue has raised concerns online about whether the sirens were functional and properly maintained.
Sheriff Mesch said the sirens are tested twice daily, Monday through Friday, once at noon and again at 6 p.m. He said the sirens never malfunctioned until the storm hit, at which point people realized they could not hear the siren. The sheriff explained that this situation compelled him and his deputy to take action themselves.
“The south siren malfunctioned, the north siren went off,” said Mesch. “One thing I do is all of my cars have a button, so for emergencies like that, where we can hit the button and it’ll start telling you, ‘Tornado! Take cover!’ So, they were going through the town trying to tell people, ‘Hey, there is a tornado coming.’”
Mesch said investigating what happened to the south siren is on the county’s list, along with clean-up and restoration.
After the storm
After the storm had ed, Garden City Fire Marshal Gene Robinson was among those stepping up to assure that everyone was okay. Robinson was in northwest Kansas, storm spotting when the storm dropped the tornado near Grinnell. He immediately went into first-responder mode.
“We assisted people on I-70 with patient care and traffic control, then assisted with search and rescue in Grinnell,” Robinson said.
The fire marshal from southwest Kansas said there was “very heavy damage to the west side of town,” with houses destroyed or heavily damaged, walls blown down and roofs missing.
Among the volunteers who answered the call to help with the cleanup effort on Monday was Anthony Gooch, from Atwood. Gooch said he was in town specifically to a co-worker who lives in Grinnell.
Gooch, who lives and works in Atwood, said he’d never seen this much damage in northwest Kansas. The number of volunteers in Grinnell more than doubled the town’s population.
“Northwest Kansas is very hospitable. It says a lot about the people out here that they’re willing to help,” Gooch said.
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