Mega-Twister Levels Town

May 7, 2007 — -- A mega-twister leveled Greensburg, Kan., this weekend, leaving the small farming community devastated after the powerful tornado hit.

"Everybody has damage -- every single person," said Kansas Highway Patrol Sgt. Ronald Knoefel. "Most cases, not only do they have damage, they have nothing left. Absolutely nothing left."

The town's junior high and elementary schools were reduced to rubble, as were churches and other public services.

"If it had been at another time with kids in attendance, it would have been so, so tragic," Knoefel said.

But despite the heartache, there's hope.

"What I can tell you is this community will be back -- stronger, better than ever," Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said.

Survivors who talked to "Good Morning America" weren't angry about the possessions and homes that they lost, but instead seem grateful just to be alive.

Jessica George's parents Marvin and Sandra George were caught in the storm.

During the storm, Sandra George prayed.

"I didn't know what to do," she said.

When Jessica George called her parents, no one answered. After the storm, she ventured to their house.

"We finally got to the house and my Dad said, 'Who's there?' And I said, 'Daddy,'" Jessica George said. "I just ran up to the porch and I was just so happy to see them. Everything was OK because they were OK, you know? It didn't matter what the house looked like.

"It didn't matter there was a car in the front yard. I just knew everything was OK because I got to hug my Mom and Dad because they mean everything to me, because if they would have been gone I would have been lost," she said.

Marvin George agreed.

"All of those things are things. When you step out and see all devastation out there you ask yourself, how in the world did I survive this?" he said. "It's only by the power of God that we were saved."

Meteorologist's Call Saved Thousands

Twenty minutes before the storm hit, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Umscheid sent out a tornado warning. The 20-minute time frame is nearly twice as much warning as people usually get, and it allowed more people to take cover.

Umscheid, who works out of Dodge City, Kan., made the call because of radar pictures showing a storm building and moving toward Greensburg.