K-State, Manhattan damaged
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Originally published 02:36 p.m., June 12, 2008
Updated 02:36 p.m., June 12, 2008
Former area resident Rachel Meenen was about five minutes away from Kansas State University when a tornado struck the campus and Manhattan late Wednesday night.
The tornado left the campus with an estimated $20 million in storm damage. K-State’s nuclear reactor, however, was not harmed, according to a news release sent this morning from the university.
The tornado cut a path from the southwest side of the city, near the Manhattan Airport, and continued northeast through the center of town.
Meenen took cover in a hallway at her home when the tornado hit. The home does not have a basement. She didn’t hear anything, she said, but the tornado wasn’t far away.
“I have never experienced anything like this before,” Meenen said. “We’ve been under warnings but I’ve never actually had one touch down where I was.”
After the tornado hit, Meenen went to the campus about 11:30 p.m. to look at the damage.
Meenen, who graduated in 2005 from Northern Heights High School, will be a senior majoring in elementary education when she returns to classes at K-State in the fall.
“There was quite a bit of damage on campus,” she said. “There were a lot of trees knocked over and cars flipped over. Windows were busted out. ...”
Meenen added that there were several power lines down but she didn’t see any damage to homes.
“Mostly just a lot of trees and stuff,” she said.
Meenen said there were so many people driving around that clean-up efforts hadn’t started.
“They couldn’t get out in the streets that early,” she said. “It was pretty unreal. When we were driving around it didn’t seem possible really, especially not on campus and at something you see every day. It’s destroyed, as far as trees and stuff like that. ...”
The damage across the campus is extensive, the K-State news release said.
“Roofs have been damaged or torn off, windows have been blown out in many buildings,” said Tom Rawson, vice president for administration and finance. “Weber Hall is severely damaged.”
Ironically, the Wind Erosion Lab was demolished, Rawson said.
Significant damage had been done to the engineering complex and to Waters, Call, Cardwell and Ward halls.
Ward Hall houses the university’s nuclear reactor.
“Although Ward itself was damaged, because of the design of the building, the reactor remains safe and unharmed,” the news release stated.
“There is no danger from the reactor, even if the roof and walls had been damaged,” said Mo Hosni, head of K-State’s department of mechanical and nuclear engineering.
Classes at the university were cancelled today, although facilities employees were told to report to work, as were those involved in freshman orientation and enrollment. That event, scheduled to be held in the student union, was moved to Bramlage Coliseum.
Debris from the storm littered the campus this morning, and many bulidings remained without power. Extensive damage also was reported at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house. Residents there were reported to be safe, as were campers who had been staying in other residence halls. The latter halls were not damaged, the news release said.
Beyond the campus, the city of Manhattan also sustained extensive damage and some reports of injuries.
Trees and power lines were downed throughout the city. A preliminary search for victims has been completed and the Kansas Highway Patrol was set to conduct a research-and-rescue flyover early this morning.
University police requested that people stay away from campus because of downed power lines, trees and branches, and areas that had flooded.