“The natural disaster club is not one anyone wants to join,”  said Greensburg, Kansas, administrator Stacy Barnes. But more and more small towns and rural communities are waking up–after flash flood, tornado, wildfire, or hurricane–to discover they are a member, whether they want to be or not. Greensburg has been a member of the disaster club, and the disaster recovery club, for almost 20 years now, and the path of its recovery–rebuilding a town from scratch and putting the “green” back in Greensburg–is as remarkable as the surgical precision with which an EF5 tornado wiped out 95% of the town in May of 2007.

Now heralded as a model green town, Greensburg has been rebuilt for a future that is energy efficient and disaster prepared. Its population of 750 souls is smaller than it was in 2007, but also younger on average than it was before the storm. “The younger families, people with jobs, kids in school, almost without exception, they all stayed, and they’re the ones who rebuilt Greensburg,” said Mayor Matt Christensen.

In 2024, more small towns, including Kerrville, Texas, have unexpectedly joined the disaster recovery club. And down the road from well-known Asheville, North Carolina, the unincorporated town of Swannanoa was hit hard by Hurricane Helene. Ten of the town’s 5000 residents died that night and townsfolk are still head-down, picking their way through what will be a decades-long recovery process.

George Scott, a local musician and member of the Swannanoa Community Council pointed out that rural communities often don’t have the resources or established governance structure to respond quickly to catastrophic disasters. Scott and other leaders from Swannanoa and Greensburg–some elected, others grown from grist for the mill–offer these tips for how rural communities can prepare for and endure the marathon of recovery after a major natural disaster.

The Stages of Disaster Recovery

Mayor Matt Christenson grew up in Greensburg, but like a lot of young people, never intended to stay after he went away to college.  He graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in engineering, the same month as one of the strongest tornadoes on record wiped out his town.

“I thought I’d just come back and help my parents clean up, spend the summer helping out in the community,” he explained. “But then, that fall, I ran for city council on a dare, and things just kind of snowballed. My three-month commitment turned into 10 years on the city council, and I’ve been mayor for the last seven years.”

Read the full article about the disaster recovery club by Heather Close at The Daily Yonder.