While many neighbors used eco-conscious insulation and windows, Eller and his wife took it a step further, building a geodesic “dome home” that looks a bit like a half-igloo stuck onto a regular house. Eller said the peculiar design saves him hundreds of dollars on heating each month in the winter.
With the dome home and arts center and new downtown district, city leaders hoped Greensburg’s trendy status would encourage young people to stay and perhaps inspire outsiders to move into town. There’s anecdotal evidence of that happening, but far from enough to get the population back to its former levels.
Hardinger, who originally planned to rebuild in town, now lives in a mobile home on property she and her husband bought a few miles outside Greensburg. They plan to eventually build a house there.
In the months after the storm, Hardinger said family health problems demanded much of her attention during a time when others in Greensburg were designing their new homes. Largely because of that, the Hardingers decided to forgo the lengthy rebuilding process and sold the lot where the house had stood.
Looking back, Hardinger said the emphasis on green construction had definite benefits, but she wonders whether it delivered on its promise. As a businesswoman, she said she wishes more attention had been placed on getting sewers, electricity and water back up and running quickly.
“I don’t know (if) it was the best choice,” said Hardinger, who still owns commercial property in Greensburg. “It always felt like it was slowing down our progress. It felt like it slowed our growth.”
In central Illinois, there’s also a desire to speed the recovery process. The timing of the storms — in late fall rather than the norm of spring or summer — has forced recovery workers to labor in the cold and snow and has limited how quickly they could remove debris.
Funding is another concern. In Washington and Gifford, city leaders are hoping the Federal Emergency Management Agency reconsiders Gov. Pat Quinn’s application for certain disaster relief money. Quinn has vowed to appeal FEMA’s denial.
“For a small town, you don’t have that kind of money lying around,” said Derald Ackerman, village president in Gifford, where about a third of the homes were damaged. The emergency response and debris removal cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said, and local officials had hoped for federal relief.
Despite lingering problems with the village’s water system that have included two long-term boil orders, Ackerman said the town of about 975 people is making progress.
“I think we’ll be better off a year from now,” he said. “We may not have quite as many houses in town as before the tornado, but, you know, it’s hard telling.”