It's time for Positively Kansas.

Coming up, as residents pick up the pieces.

They also count their blessings.

We'll explore the amazing fact that no one was killed or even seriously injured in the Andover tornado of 2022.

We'll bring you expert analysis as well as insights from survivors.

Also, Kansas landscapes provide no shortage of subject matter for artists of every medium.

One issue to a photographer who makes a career of capturing these stunning vistas.

Plus, you'll meet the bionic woman of Kansas.

New technology is in place.

What a tragic accident took away.

And in our Kansas Wild Edge report, we'll catch up with some ducks that just come to Kansas for the winter.

They're elusive little creatures, but Mike Blair always knows how to get the best shots.

Im Sierra Scott.

Those stories are cued up and ready to roll on this edition of Positively Kansas.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by.

Before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 25 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 900,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member owned Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas.

An independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, proudly supports PBS.

Kansas.

Program support provided by the F Price Kosman Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee.

Bringing you that Kansas Wild Edge segments on positively Kansas.

Kansas demonstrates once again that it's in the heart of Tornado Alley.

On a late April Friday evening, several tornadoes were spotted across the state.

But the one everyone will remember made a path right through and over.

It reminds so many of that terrible, deadly tornado in 1991, resulting in 19 fatalities.

But this time, amazingly, there were no fatalities and only three injuries.

Chris Frank explores the similarities and the important difference bet Right on the ground right now, Wichita, Kansas.

It was shortly after 8:00, the evening of April 29th, 2022, that this tornado just east of Wichita in eastern Sedgwick County, spawned from a rapidly developing storm.

Please don't hit a house, please.

I had a house.

That prayer not answered the way storm chasers like Eric Duncan and Andover residents wanted that evening.

Oh, my God.

It's a violent tornado.

The evidence of destruction clearly being seen with debris from houses and other structures being swept up into the air.

Yeah, that just.

Just spun up very quickly.

Here's Wichita meteorologist amazed with how quickly the 2022 and over tornado spun up.

This is something I'll forever remembers how we went from 0 to 100 miles per hour in terms of just how quickly that thing took off.

Prior to that, South Central Kansas was under a National Weather Service issued tornado watch, meaning conditions were favorable to produce tornadoes.

That storm developed a tornado rather quickly.

Only moments earlier, the attention was on other storms in Kansas producing tornadoes.

And there were several.

That looks like a significant tornado developing there.

Let's pan on down to the south.

Developing tornado near Burdick, developing tornado between Lincolnville and Antelope.

So while the atmosphere above was developing, folks in Andover and the area were doing what people typically do on a Friday evening, including an Clemons.

My friend and I were inside eating dinner and we had the news on and.

Chris Batchelor.

My daughter that evening, had kind of convinced us all to go to the movies.

Bachelor is happy.

He and his two teen children were at the movies that Friday night when the tornado struck.

He found out their house was destroyed when a neighbor texted him a photo.

The way the tornado came.

The house was completely totaled.

There wasn't a single wall standing.

There was little time for tornado victims like bachelor to collect personal items that night because rain and hail were coming in.

We came back the next day and just it's just devastating that there's there's really you know, the house was completely gone.

It failed exactly like it was designed to the whole top of the house, sort of detached from the main floor.

The houses on the end of the two cul de sacs in the Prairie Creek addition appear to be in the direct path of the tornado.

The damage to other houses on the street diminishes the further away they were from the tornado path.

But all of them on this street sustained at least roof damage and broken windows, particularly on the back side of these houses.

It makes one wonder how much glass and other objects may remain in yards and fields for years to come.

Bachelors says the tornado picked up his recently purchased washer and dryer, but left other appliances like the kitchen range and refrigerator behind.

But there was absolutely no trace of any of the washer and dryer at all.

They're completely, completely vanished.

Neighbors who rode out the storm spoke of the terrifying noise from the tornadoes destroying homes.

The sounds above us were just violent tornado, undescribable.

And Clemmons and her friend Amy Jacobs heard that noise, but from a safe space.

Clemmons says a local evening newscast alerted them of area storms, which got them skywatching.

And so then we decided to look out the north window or the south window, which then we could see the funnel coming down, but then to come up and then it started coming down again.

And by that time, the TV alert came on and we all started hearing the sirens.

So we just grab some stuff and went down in my basement.

A couple of points to make here.

Many Kansans tend to want to see for themselves that there really is a tornado for their own convincing before heading for shelter.

Now that can be hazardous.

Secondly, as Clemmons demonstrates, she and Fran Jacobs had time to react and choose what she deemed the safest spot in the basement to shelter in.

It was underneath the stairwell.

So my friend and I, we came over here.

Was there a little safe heaven?

But even as the tornado kept approaching, Clemmons and Jacobs had to make room for themselves in that stairwell closet.

Well, actually, this was full of boxes and stuff.

You know, because you're put stories in here.

So they were fortunate to have time.

Often there isn't time to be making room for shelter.

You need it now.

But I got some blankets and pillows.

It's almost like it's not going to happen to us when you know it's not going to happen to us.

We're not going to get hit by the tornado.

You know, that's what people think when they hear the siren going off, like, you know what, it's going to pass us.

But the tornado didn't pass.

Reality came to her doorstep as it did for thousands of others that night.

We just heard their low rumble and it just kind of kept getting louder and louder and louder.

So we're just like on top of you.

And just the whole house was shaking and you could hear things flying above you, above us.

And we just like I said, we just started praying to our father and out loud, as loud as we could, almost just to kind of drown out all the noise that was going on above us.

And.

Yeah.

Her emotion.

A reflection of the reality.

It is the moment, the hour, the night, the day when a tornado was no longer just an experience you hear about and watch on television.

It becomes your experience.

It became real right away.

For those working out at the and over YMCA who took shelter in the locker rooms with the tornado bearing down on them outside.

Cars were blown into the Y's entrance and lobby as if they were toys.

And across the street from the Y is the Prairie Creek Elementary School.

The school's security cameras recorded from all sides.

The tornado coming and going.

Now, take note of the car in the parking lot.

That's why experts discourage people from thinking cars can give you much protection.

The destruction brought on by the April 29th tornado is extensive and over.

Fire chief Chad Russell says more than 1000 buildings were damaged.

He estimates 300 to 400 buildings were destroyed.

Yet despite all that destruction, what to some may seem miraculous is that there were no fatalities.

The National Weather Service says there were three injuries directly related to the tornado.

Now, compare that to the infamous EF five tornado on April 26, 1991.

It carved a path from Clearwater through Haynesville.

McConnell Air Force Base, South Wichita, and of course, and over that 1991 tornado was part of a multi-state outbreak stretching from Texas to Minnesota.

The National Weather Service reports 55 tornadoes, then resulting in a total of 21 fatalities.

Most of those in and over in south Wichita.

There were 313 injuries from that outbreak.

There could be a lot of reasons why there was such a difference from 1991 in terms of how many people died then with what happened now.

One of those reasons she and others give is how visible the 2022 tornado was.

That had great visibility.

The tornado was well viewed from lots of different angles.

That visibility had storm spotters calling the National Weather Service and local broadcasters.

So warnings could be issued quickly.

You can hear the sirens sounding while the tornado was still well south of Kellogg and approaching Andover.

We interrupt this program to bring you a bulletin.

What you are looking at right now with our Sky View camera from Wichita State University is a confirmed tornado.

There is really little reason for folks to be surprised of severe weather.

Forecasters had predicted the likelihood of severe weather for that Friday.

Earlier in the week, we.

Knew that it could potentially be a really big day.

We didn't know to what magnitude, but the ingredients were there.

But we knew days in advance that the environment was going to be there.

And this time that environment produced tornadoes across the state.

We think that is the tornado debris right there.

So it's south of Andover, south of Kellogg, and now mostly in Butler County.

Some Andover residents I spoke with say they had several minutes warning of the approaching tornado.

Alarm go off.

Samuel, as we said, we did have about 15 minutes.

I got my wife conquered down in in interior closet.

Back in 1991, there were tornado warnings being broadcast tracking that EF five before it reached and over.

So we have a. Tornado warning for Sedgwick County.

Two tornadoes, one near Goddard, the other near Conway Springs, moving northeast.

This does include the city of Wichita.

That also was a Friday evening.

The 91 tornado went through the Golden Spur mobile home park, killing 13 there.

The town's tornado siren, however, failed that evening.

Let's go back to the video.

Now, we've shown you that television viewers had opportunity to see the tornado live.

And I think that speaks to the change in technology from 91 to the present day, because phones now are so much more widespread, the technology so much better.

There are several weather alerting apps available for smartphones, which can warn us of approaching tornadoes.

But there's a caveat to that.

We can have so many things alerting us that even a warning which might save our lives gets ignored.

But as we have more methods of warning during severe weather and people opt in for even things like a score alert via ESPN, suddenly critical weather information gets dropped into the noise along with everything else that people have signed up to receive on their devices.

And no warning can be deadly.

Those who encounter such a close call with a tornado become reflective about the experience.

It's a very, very humbling experience, very grateful to be alive in really believe in basement.

This is a disaster that will take a long time to recover from.

With building supplies so constrained.

But we also focus on the positives.

No loss of life.

People heeded warnings and got to safety.

And though there have been fewer tornadoes in Kansas in recent years, it only takes one strike in a populated area to remind us how devastating a tornado can be.

This is Chris Frank reporting for Positively Kansas.

Our weather experts say this tornado is a reminder to review your safety plans in the event a tornado strikes near you.

Research indicates the average adult will change careers as many as seven times.

Anthony Powell met a man named John Morrison who left his established field for something completely unrelated.

Ever since this Proud Whittington has been capturing the beauty of the Sunflower State.

Here in the park, look for unusual weather or lighting.

On a crisp February, where every morning we met up with John Morrison in one of his favorite places to take pictures, College Hill Park.

For two decades, John has made places like the park, his canvas, producing a wide range of pictures that showcase the Sunflower State in a breathtaking way.

At his nearby Prairie Vistas Gallery in the Park Lane Shopping Center, John gave us a tour of some of the countless places he and his camera have visited.

Well, this is, of course, Cottonwood Falls.

That's the Chase County Courthouse.

The Chase County Courthouse is the oldest courthouse still in use in Kansas.

This serenity of this tree in the dead of a Wichita winter is also one of his favorites.

That's a river home.

And I just thought that the snowfall showed its bones in a fantastic way.

Dozens and dozens of pictures from all corners of Kansas hanging on John's gallery walls, an incredible collection for any photographer, but especially one who made it a second career back in 2002.

John knew it was time for something different career wise.

He had spent years as a computer programmer and was ready to retire.

But what to do next?

A book would provide the answer.

It was probably on a bargain table.

I had a bookstore like Borders for Barnes and Noble.

So just a chance experience.

In.

America Open Wide by Australian photographer Ken Duncan immediately impacted John, especially when he saw this photo of sunflowers taken in Goodland, Kansas.

John says he always had a small interest in photography, but the book inspired him to do it full time.

My wife was very supportive.

She's always been supportive.

This is a retirement activity, so I don't have the same requirements for breaking even that somebody that's 30 would have.

John says it's the best decision he ever made.

There are so many things he loves about photography.

Just the intrinsic fact of being outside in the open air.

I like that.

I like to be able to hear the sounds that you hear, especially at sundown here.

The kilts and the other animals check in with each other.

Getting to explore Kansas, where he moved in 1974 from Oklahoma and finding new and exciting locations to shoot is another fantastic part of the job.

But by far, in a way, what John finds most satisfying are the reactions his photos receive.

These are people who will see a photograph and say, Oh, that looks just like where I grew up.

Or in some cases it is where they grew up.

Many my Flint Hills shots are of that type.

In this day and age when technology seems to make our lives so hurried.

John relishes in the fact that one of his seemingly simple photographs can take people back to a time when life seemed simpler.

This line of trees in Reno County is what we call the tree tunnel, and we always made our folks drive through there.

When we go to Wichita from Great Beyond.

So if you're looking for a beautiful way to see Kansas or are perhaps wanting to revisit the place you grew up.

Stop by and see John Morrison.

It sure to be an experience that will leave you feeling proud and perhaps nostalgic about the Sunflower State for Positively Kansas.

I'm Anthony Powell.

As an artist, John says he doesn't make the kind of money he did with computers, but he says that's okay.

Photography gives him the kind of satisfaction money could never buy.

Common organizers are large and beautiful diving ducks visible in Kansas for only a month or so each winter.

They're super wary and seldom allow close approaches.

But in this week's Kansas Wild Art Report, Mike Blair shows us the big freeze that can change all that.

Sometimes providing rare close up views of these colorful birds.

If you ask me, common cancers aren't that common, and they're goosing boogers to boot.

Get much closer than four.

Hundred yards on open water.

They say, see?

That makes them a hard.

Target for close up viewing and photography.

No one cares much about these so-called trash ducks.

They're divers needing deep, clear water in which to fish.

They're only in Kansas.

During.

Winter, February being prime time.

But the Drakes are colorful and gorgeous and the hands are all wild haired redheads.

So I chase small flocks around.

Usually frustrated.

Good luck trying to get close.

The big freeze ups change the equation.

Random seams or pools of water in endless ice.

Forced organizers to congregate find such places near shore and you get your chance.

A teeny reservoir west of Wichita.

I spotted a perfect situation near an access pier, so I carried armloads.

Of video.

Gear.

A quarter mile showed up on the Rocky Jetty and then sat closest organizers came and went.

It was a bonanza for the species.

Groups traded on the small open water in strong sunlight.

The afternoon was warm and comfortable.

It was a free and natural show where I was the only audience.

I'll never forget this.

Best ever chance on a long shot.

Water fell.

Subject.

Such experiences are thrilling and I'm fortunate.

My trails meander through wild places full of adventure.

I treasure these as great gifts and my pleasure to positively Kansas.

Next week, Mike takes an up close look at the impact ice storms have had on Kansas wildlife.

Wichita woman is back to living her busy life after losing an arm.

You can imagine that's a difficult adjustment, but modern technology can do wonders.

Anthony Powell has his story.

Surfing, hanging out with family.

Being a teacher in Kansas and abroad, you won't find anyone with more zest for life than Sandra Steber.

But it was her love for teaching that would forever change her life.

In 2008, I was teaching in Hebron, in Israel, and it was right after the time where they'd had a problem with women being suicide bombers.

Sandra was mistakenly shot by a soldier who thought she might be a suicide bomber.

She would recover, but more medical problems lay ahead.

And had a surfing accident that dislodged the bullet.

And then about a year after that, I needed to have my spleen removed because of that.

Numerous subsequent complications led to her arm being amputated in 2018 and the prosthetic.

I didn't even wear once again after the fitting that the the procedure that they give you are these old barbaric.

Hooks.

The Ascension VA Christi Rehabilitation Center on Wichita's East Side would become Sandra's home away from home, and it was here that her life would change again.

A surgeon here heard about a program in New York offering a different kind of prosthesis, one even given the nickname Bionic.

After several trips to New York, Sandra received her new arm in March 20, 21, an extremely high tech device that Sandra controls, just like a normal arm.

Just like your brain.

Send signals to your other arm to move it.

Send signals down my arm.

And this calf right here picks up the signals and mechanisms to move the hand.

Getting used to the arm has taken a lot of hard work.

Sandra comes to therapy three days a week and that will continue for quite some time.

The team at Ascension via Christi always by her side.

She's very compliant.

She does everything.

Her motivation and positivity is encouraging.

You know, give her a task and she goes for it.

The first time I used it without thinking about it, I just caught myself and just cried.

It was it was a big deal.

Meanwhile, the Ascension Via Christi team played a critical role long before Sandra received her arm because of the amputation and other health problems.

Sandra's balance was way off, so therapists essentially had to teach her to walk again.

Your center of gravity shifts when you've lost some weight to that side.

And so she has to really relearn where that center of gravity is and how to keep herself level minus the weight.

And you don't think the arm is a lot of weight?

The arm has a lot to do with that, that center of gravity.

But all that seems like ancient history now that Sandra is doing so well.

She's surfing again and is even considering going back to teaching science in Gainesville and of course, using her new device for demons.

Grayson's why would be the most popular science teacher.

Her sense of humor also on display during a trip to New York.

Sandra's upbeat personality has been so important in combating both the emotional and financial stress of the newsroom.

But despite it all.

Well, I consider myself really lucky.

It could have been so much worse at so many points along the way.

And now to be the first well, technically the second person to have an arm like this, I just feel really blessed.

After all, says Sandra, how many people can say their arm can strike fear in just about anyone?

It could crush things, but it's got it's got a mechanism in it that keeps it from crushing things.

For positively Kansas.

I'm Anthony Powell.

Sandra says she could never have afforded the bionic arm on her own.

People donated to help her out, including two friends who kicked in $50,000 as a birthday gift.

Well, that's all we have for you this week.

positivelykansas@kpts.org is our email address.

If you have a story idea, you always need them.

Until next time, stay safe.

We'll see you again soon.

Positively Kansas is brought to you in part by program support provided by the F price Kosman Memorial Trust and Trust Bank Trustee bringing you the Kansas Wild Edge segments on Positively Kansas.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas serves more than 900,000 Kansans in various programs.

Independent member owned Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, proudly supports PBS Kansas.

Before investing your hard earned money, make sure your financial advisor understands your objectives.

Mark Douglass CFP Serving our community for over 25 years, providing customized financial solutions that focus on the individual.