abilene reflector chronicle phone number

I remember an intense phone interview with him that morning while he gave me the basic information regarding what had transpired. They had their own problems to worry about and emergency city business to handle so Homman dealt with the media horde.

We couldn’t get in because the city had been closed to all but people who could prove they lived in Chapman.ĭickinson County Administrator Brad Homman who at that time was the county’s director of administration, served as spokesman for the city of Chapman for the simple reason that the police chief’s, city clerk’s, mayor’s and most council members’ homes had been destroyed or heavily damaged. So early on Thursday, June 12, 2008, Chapman was inundated with reporters from all over the state, nation, (and a day or two later, some from outside the U.S) all wanting to get in and see the damage. One of the sad but true things about the news business is “bad news” always gets more attention than the good. Other scanner traffic involved search and rescue teams being assigned to grids to conduct house checks, front-end loaders out moving debris from the streets, and on it went into the night. Casualty report comes in and a chaplain is dispatched.Shelter established at Sterl Hall in Abilene.comment is made on scanner that Chapman is “pretty well saturated with emergency crews” Emergency responders, vehicles, equipment arriving from across Kansas and American Red Cross arrives on scene.Chapman will be closed to incoming traffic except for emergency vehicles.Search and rescue crews needed to search Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Streets.Kansas Gas asked to shut off gas to the city.1 fire chief, takes control as incident commander Paul Froelich, Dickinson County Fire District No.

Memorial Hospital in Abilene on standby to receive mass casualties.

Abilene and Herington firefighters report to their respective stations to respond Geary County, other Kansas cities and counties also sending units.

Mutual aid request sent out, staging area established.

Heavy damage reported west of Marshall Street structural collapse equipment needed.

I remember hearing those first calls come across the scanner after the tornado struck and I started taking notes: It missed us here, but Chapman wasn’t so lucky. In my “flashbulb memory” I remember being in the basement of my Abilene home with my husband and son, listening to my police scanner and radio reports while tornado sirens blared in Abilene. It struck Manhattan, doing damage at K-State and other areas, before moving on to the town of Soldier. The tornado, which later was determined to be an EF3, actually started in Salina and moved toward Solomon, Abilene and Enterprise before its direct hit on Chapman. In fact, she was attending a Chapman City Council meeting that night, which adjourned not too long before the storm came through. So I was thinking about them when the tornado hit.īut by the time June 2008 rolled around, I had recently moved to a different job at the Reflector and my friend and colleague Carla Strand was covering Chapman when the tornado hit. I had spent a number of years serving as the Chapman reporter and many of the people I dealt with regularly not only were work contacts, but also had become friends. It was an assigned “beat” where a reporter attended every Chapman City Council meeting and someone attended every festival or other major event. While it’s especially true for the Chapman residents who were directly or indirectly impacted, it also was true for many others.īack in 2008 Chapman was a major coverage area for the Reflector-Chronicle. Kennedy was assassinated or when Pearl Harbor was bombed.įor many in this area, the 2008 Chapman tornado is one such “flashbulb memory.” 11 World Trade Center terrorist attack can still remember what they were doing when they heard the news. Olympic Sexual Abuse InvestigationĪnyone who has lived long enough experiences something called “flashbulb memories.” It’s a memory that is so highly detailed and vivid it remains with the individual for a lifetime, basically creating a “snapshot” in the mind.

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Abilene reflector chronicle phone number