Tornado destroys KSU fraternity house

[AnchorAlumna]

Anybody heard about this yesterday (6-11-2008) at Kansas State?

[OleMissGlitter]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/0...ado/index.html

Here is an article that says a fraternity house lost their roof, but it does not say which one...

[knight_shadow]

The KSU website says that it was the SAE house that was damaged.

http://www.k-state.edu/news/2008/2008-06-12-closed.html

[wildcatfan]

I just posted over on the SAE site--it was the SAE house. The house is located just NW from the old Ahearn auditorium for those of you familiar with the campus. News reports say K-State sustained $20 million in damages. It sounds like it went through the NW quadrant of campus and several buildings were damaged, including Weber Arena, Fiedler (sp?--I think a new building since I was there), and whatever buildings that house the Wind Erosion Lab (ironic, huh?) and the nuclear reactor (which was "safely shut down" earlier in the day.) At least that's the early smattering of news that I have heard. My daughter went to Manhattan this afternoon to go to work, and I hope to know more when she calls tonight.

[nittanyalum]

Oh, that's terrible, I'm so sorry to hear it. Glad there weren't any injuries, though.

[wildcatfan]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

The KSU website says that it was the SAE house that was damaged.

http://www.k-state.edu/news/2008/2008-06-12-closed.html

knight_shadow posted while I was writing. If you go to the website he included and click on "engineering complex" you will get a map that shows campus with three named buildings. The SAE house is right under the marker that says "Durland Hall," west of Denison and north of College Heights (right on the corner.)

[sarahsmilehawk]

I heard about this. Tornadoes are a dime a dozen here in Kansas, but it's always scary when they do real damage. Does anyone know if anyone was living at the house, or was it closed for the summer?

[jon1856]

This story, from campus newspaper, has a small photo of our Chapter House.
http://media.www.kstatecollegian.com...-3381346.shtml
There is a small slide show at the very bottom of story.

UPDATE: From our National Office:
News Update: The Kansas Beta house sustained damage from a tornado. All members are safe and accounted for.
Video news link of house:
http://videos.kansascity.com/vmix_ho...dia?id=1930181

[southernbell196]

I just looked it up on a news site. The School officials say the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house is heavily damaged, but all residents are safe. There was also alot of damage to the college.

[jon1856]

Some updates-several video links off of these.
All I can say is Thank G-D the Chapter House seems to be solid brick!
"Off of campus, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house was heavily damaged, but all residents were safe and no injuries were reported.

"All of the sudden, our ears starting popping from the pressure deferential, and the windows shook a little bit, but in all honesty, we didn't think we got hit. We thought it was just the wind shaking the windows, and when we knew it was past, we came up, looked outside, and I really was shocked by all the debris in our front yard," said Marshall Vantuyl, a fraternity member."
http://www.kctv5.com/news/16585910/detail.html
Short story but video link has interview with a Brother who was in his third floor room.
http://www.kake.com/news/headlines/19821509.html#

[wildcatfan]

Here a a few more links of damage to SAE and also FarmHouse (located immediately to the west of the SAE house):


http://www.flickr.com/photos/1423996...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1423996...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1423996...n/photostream/

FarmHouse is also solid brick but has a lower profile than SAE. It looks like it got away with just some bad tree damage and debris.

My daughter drove through campus tonight and checked out the KD,
Chi O, TKE, Theta and ATO houses on the NE side of campus (near where the tornado "exited" campus.) She said they all looked fine, except for debris and tree damage. She thought the AIB (American Institute of Baking) building just north of ATO got its roof taken off, though.

I wonder how long till our beautiful campus looks "normal" again. . .
Still, what a blessing that no one was killed there.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by wildcatfan

Here a a few more links of damage to SAE and also FarmHouse (located immediately to the west of the SAE house):


http://www.flickr.com/photos/1423996...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1423996...n/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1423996...n/photostream/

FarmHouse is also solid brick but has a lower profile than SAE. It looks like it got away with just some bad tree damage and debris.

My daughter drove through campus tonight and checked out the KD,
Chi O, TKE, Theta and ATO houses on the NE side of campus (near where the tornado "exited" campus.) She said they all looked fine, except for debris and tree damage. She thought the AIB (American Institute of Baking) building just north of ATO got its roof taken off, though.

I wonder how long till our beautiful campus looks "normal" again. . .
Still, what a blessing that no one was killed there.

Very much of a blessing that there seems to have been "only" property damage; which given time can be repaired/replaced.
The other 760 photo in group are just as powerful.
I think this is another angle of SAE Chapter house:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14239967@N02/2573581880/
As for normal, we had a twister come through my County a few years ago and just about now the trees look a bit fuller. And we do not get that many here.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Tornados scare the crap out of me. I've never been in one, but I would never want to live in a part of the country that had them all the time. I don't know how y'all do it! We get the occasional earthquake here, but we build our cities to stand up to them so we rarely have any damage...and even when we had our 7.0 several years ago, only a couple people died if I remember correctly, and I think one of them was from a heart attack. With tornados, there's not really anything you can do to keep your home and self safe if you're in its path.

[wildcatfan]

We drove through campus last night and by the time the EF4 tornado had reached K-State, it must have weakened considerably. The path of destruction was fairly narrow (a block or so) and much of campus was untouched. The SAE house has a pitched rafter frame rebuilt and a temporary tarp roof stretched over it.

The entire campus spent last week cleaning up and things look much better than in the initial pictures. While the damage is considerable, I was relieved to see that it was limited. The old limestone buildings stood up well. There was lots of window, roof and tree damage, still a fair amount of debris (it is eerie to insulation hanging from trees!) but it's nothing like the "nuclear aftermath" pictures you saw after Greensburg. It still looks like the campus I love.

The Midwest has certainly had its share of natural disasters this year. We had a HUGE ice storm last December that covered dozens of KS counties and Manhattan was the epicenter. It occurred during finals week and there were thousands of people without power for days. Manhattan was also hit with baseball size hail the week before the tornado. My daughter's freshman roommate is from China and she keeps asking if all this is normal!!

Our thoughts and prayers currently go out to those at the University of Iowa. How sickening to watch the waters just keep rising. I hope the crest is lower than predicted and that the sandbagging helps!

[WinniBug]

Wow!
That's scary...it reminds me of the tornado that hit Clarksville when I was at APSU.