On May 4, 2007, the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, was annihilated by an F5 tornado. Almost every building was destroyed leaving the townspeople with the big question?Do we stay or go? Meet them all in this premier episode of Greensburg and hear their first hand accounts of how they survived one of the largest tornadoes in U.S. history. With a clean slate the town decides to rebuild the entire community energy efficient and as green as possible. But not everyone is sold on the idea.
Four months after a tornado wiped out the town of Greensburg, the 1400 residents have no homes to come back to, only FEMA trailers. The residents try to get their home town spirit back with a homecoming parade and football game. The town must be rebuilt from the ground up and City Administrator Steve Hewitt hires an architectural firm to come up a blueprint for the sustainable town, a master plan.
The rebuilding of Greensburg is slow going. With little money and scarce materials the town struggles to not only come back but build back greener and stronger. Despite the many obstacles, buildings are going up and Steve Hewitt, city administrator, pushes the city council to make a historic decision that would catapult Greensburg into the record books as the greenest city on the earth.
It's Christmas in Greensburg and an ice storm has swept over the town, stopping rebuilding and giving the residents one more problem to overcome. Communication is as frozen as the trees on Main Street and people don?t feel connected to what's happening. With no tax base, businesses are clamoring for spaces in the downtown incubator. Something has to be done, so the first town hall meeting since the tornado is called. All that Greensburg wants for Christmas is their town back.
Greensburg is on the map and City Manager Steve Hewitt gets a surprise invitation from the White House. The townspeople are touched by corporate sponsors who help bring the town back to life by generous donations from John Deere and General Motors.
Greensburg City Manager Steve Hewitt, feels the pressure to find funds to build green. Without the support of more outside players Greensburg will never reach their goal of sustainable building. With the eyes of the nation on this one stop light town, can they deliver?
One year after the tornado Greensburg celebrates their tragedy to triumph with a visit from President Bush. A legendary Rock and Roll band plays a benefit concert and a surprise celebrity donates enough money to fill the business incubator's funding gap.
The town has a lot to celebrate when a once-in-a lifetime national award puts Greensburg back on the map. The last days of summer see the opening of a pool and a blow-out 4th of July party as Greensburg looks towards the future.