GREENSBURG, KANSAS — A survivor was found beneath the mounds of rubble here, raising hopes that more people may still be alive in this tornado-ravaged town.
"We've searched the whole town twice over, but we're going to keep looking as long as there's a chance that more can be found," said Trooper Allan Lytton of the Kansas Highway Patrol.
The survivor was found late Sunday evening, two days after a tornado more than a mile wide shredded this county seat. Authorities announced the good news Monday morning, just as they began allowing displaced residents to rummage through the splintered wood and cracked mortar for salvageable items.
Though there were glimmers of optimism, rescue crews also found two more bodies, one in the Greensburg rubble and one in a nearby lake. Eleven people have now been confirmed dead in the region, raising to 12 the total killed by tornadoes in Kansas.
Authorities did not immediately identify the survivor, who was taken to a hospital.
Anxious to see their homes and businesses, Greensburg residents lined up before 8 a.m. But many had their return cut short when emergency workers found that a large railroad holding tank was leaking anhydrous ammonia, a farm fertilizer.
All residents were allowed to return later in the day. But the hazardous chemical spill underscored concerns by state and federal officials that Greensburg remained unsafe after the tornado destroyed 95% of the town. Some reiterated that the search for survivors should take priority over allowing frustrated homeowners to retrieve valuables.
"The last thing we want to do is have someone come back to something unsafe, and suffer an injury," said Kansas Adjutant Gen. Tod M. Bunting, adding, "Some of this debris is 30 to 40 feet deep."
Residents who returned to Greensburg were forced to realize that their lives had been ripped apart. But many found pieces worth saving, and left optimistic.
"It's heart-wrenching, but everyone's spirits are high," said the Rev. Kendal Utt of Dodge City, who helped the pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Greensburg, the Rev. Gene McIntosh, search for valuables. The tornado tore the roof off the church and destroyed its altar, but McIntosh found the church records intact.
"They have gone through the shock part," Utt said. "Everyone is doing what they can to pick up what they can find."
