A salvage crew, joined by a dozen or more helpers from nearby Lewis, has gathered up most of what can be saved at Southern Grains Co-op in Greensburg, Kan., which was destroyed along with nearly all the town of Greensburg and some of the surrounding areas in the devastating tornado a week ago. “They are there to help salvage as much as we can,” reported Angela Clawson at the other Southern Plains facility in Lewis, which acquired the former Farmers Grain in Greensburg about a year and half ago.
Clawson was speaking in the absence of Manager Ron Gruber, who was in Greensburg directing the recovery and setting up a temporary office to handle what business could be transacted. “We want to personally thank all of the other co-ops in the region for their help and generous offers of assistance during this time,” Gruber said on the Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association (KARA) website.
“The TV pictures don’t do it justice,” Clawson told Green Markets. “Some farmers have lost everything. There’s nothing left, nothing standing.”
Recovery efforts in and around Southern Plains were interrupted with the discovery of anhydrous ammonia leaking from a rail tanker and temporary evacuation of the area as a precaution. Clawson said it didn’t take too long to get the leak capped and eliminate any danger. All salvageable fertilizer, feed, and equipment was transported from Greensburg to the Lewis location last week, KARA reported. The Lewis facility suffered no damage, although it was without power for some time.
KARA confirmed that surrounding areas were also hit hard by the storm. Reports stated that the Farmers Co-op in Claflin lost five grain storage bins, Great Bend Co-op locations in Seward and Ellinwood experienced quite a bit of damage to their facilities, and the ADM facility in Trousdale lost several grain storage bins, with an estimated loss of one million bushels of capacity. In addition to the extreme loss and damage to businesses in this area, KARA said many of its members, along with those of the Kansas Grain and Feed Association, also lost their homes, including two employees from Farmers Co-op in Haviland, four from Southern Plains Co-op, and five from another ADM facility one mile west of Greensburg. KARA and KGFA sent their sympathy to all those affected by the tornado and storms, and suggested donations to help rebuild the town of Greensburg and surrounding areas should be made through the American Red Cross or Salvation Army, and may be directed to relief funds in western Kansas.