Manhattan Kansas Tornado

Some may know that Manhattan, Kansas was hit with an EF4 Tornado Wednesday night, June 11th. It took out the the little town of Chapman Kansas witch is west and south of Manhattan. It then traveled to the Manhattan airport Northeast and 35 mph. It hit Miller Ranch, which is a nice residential neighbor located on some of the flint hills. It devastated this area and continued east to my Branch President's neighborhood which is east and down the hill from the Miller Ranch area. It was interesting that their house is still standing yet their neighbor's house is gone. There were reports of cars in trees and their is debris everywhere from the upmost destruction. From my Branch President's house it moved to a car dealership where it over-turned cars and wrecked buildings. One of the most devastating buildings was Water's True Value hardware store, which was a huge building. This building was completely leveled. You can find traces of the store all throughout the city of Manhattan. From the hardware store the tornado still traveled north east to campus. Along the way, the tornado took out some trees and blasted Lee elementary, but it is still intact. It then traveled to student apartment buildings across from campus where it took of apartment roofs and uprooted trees. The tornado then made its way to campus where it took out roofs, blew out windows and left a trail of junk and debris. From there it tore up some other buildings but did not completely destroy them, this could be partly due to the limestone buildings K-state builds. The tornado made its way to my work (the preschool) where it over-turned the playground such as our boat, trees, and various other structures on the playground. Windows were blown in, however the building is basically indestructible, so no serious damage came. The playground was the main area that took a hit. Yet if you look into the parking lot, a roof from a neighboring building sits. The tornado traveled up to AIB (American Institute of Baking) where it tore up a part of the the side of the building and the roof. That was where the tornado had it's last hurrah. As I was sitting in my neighbors concrete room we had a radio saying it was heading toward Tuttle Creek State Park, where I am close to. It didn't quite make it. However, in my neighborhood you can see debris, so I'm thinking it must have blown my way but never touched down......Phew!!!! I was grateful for my neighbors concrete room and her allowing my roommate Katie and I to come to her house. Luckily Katie and I heard the tornado siren because we were watching a movie and when it ended, we heard the sirens. We had about a 20-30 min warning, taken in account when the siren actually started. So we waited it out at my neighbors until it passed over. I was prepared as I brought my 72 hr kit, just in case :) Well, beside the disaster clean-up, Manhattan is getting back to normal, beside the increase in traffic from people passing through.