Slow, violent storm drenches Chase, Lyon counties
By Brandy Nance
Originally published 01:21 p.m., June 13, 2008
Updated 01:21 p.m., June 13, 2008
A large storm system slowly made its way through the Chase and Lyon County areas Thursday night, bringing in several reports of funnel and wall clouds but no confirmed reports of tornado touchdowns.
Storm sirens were switched on in Emporia around 6 p.m. as the storm’s winds began to rotate southwest of the city. Rick Frevert of Lyon County Emergency Management said this morning that emergency management received word that Chase County went under a tornado warning and Lyon County spotters were moved over to Chase County. Frevert said they saw rotation in the clouds, wall clouds and lowering of clouds, but they didn’t see anything touch the ground.
“Where we were, we never saw anything come to the ground and develop a debris field,” Frevert said.
Frevert said he didn’t see any hail until the second round of storms, but the storm packed sky-to-ground lightning and cloud rotation in the Reading area.
“As a precautionary, we set the sirens off,” Frevert said.
Frevert said he had never seen a storm quite like Thursday night’s.
“The unique side of the storms this year is they are moving slow,” he said. “I’m guessing we were 45 minutes to an hour in the west side of the county and it just kept training across. We’ve never had that before ... I’ve never seen one move that slow.”
Frevert said the extra warning is great, but there is a downside.
“I hope it doesn’t make people complacent and they think that’s the norm,” he said. “A 5- to 10-minute notice is normally what we get.”
There were unconfirmed reports of tornado touchdowns in Chase and Lyon counties. One report came from south of Cottonwood Falls and another on Kansas Highway 99 in Lyon County near the turnpike bridge. If the reported sighting is not an inhabited area, Frevert said, he usually doesn’t hear about it.
“If someone has damage, we’d like to have somebody let us know,” Frevert said. “We would like to know because that goes into our reports.”
Frevert said flooding is not a concern at the moment, but that could change. Area reservoirs aren’t releasing much water because the rivers are running full and there is no place for the extra water to go except over the banks.
“Council Grove is only letting out 23 cubic feet per second and they are 63 percent full,” Frevert said. “Depending on how much water comes down from the Manhattan area, I don’t know how much more they can hold before they start releasing. ...”
Frevert said the Council Grove area could be a concern because it’s part of the Neosho Basin.
“Right now, we’re not too worried about flooding but that could change very quickly,” he said. “Right now we’re holding our own but it’s just that the water that is here we can’t get rid of.”
Thursday’s storm dumped a little over an inch of rain in Lyon and Chase counties, according to the National Weather Service.
gazette_reader (anonymous) says...
It seems to me that Emporia is pretty careful about when it chooses to run the sirens, and considering the pictures of wall and funnel clouds posted on KVOE.com, I think everyone understands that the sirens weren't running for the fun of it.
What blows my mind, though, is that we could hear kids playing outside the entire time we were under the warnings. They even stayed out during some of that heavy rain.
June 14, 2008 at 2:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
boomer46 (anonymous) says...
I also observed very small children outside playing during the warnings. As a member of a Disaster Preparedness Team of a large school district, I am more convinced than ever that the safest place for children during any disaster is at school. The district/schools work very hard to make sure all children will be safe in any distaster. Drills of all kinds are done throughout the year.
I have participated at school level and district level in organizing drills, participating, and being chairperson for disaster committees. I have taken each and every drill seriously including a real bomb threat received over the phone. My goal was to make sure all students, staff, parents, or visitors were in a safe place depending on the threat.
Why do some parents undermine the training these children receive at school by ignoring warnings?
Parents, please take warnings seriously, and encourage your children to do the same, especially when they hear the sirens. The people who set off the sirens as well as the weather forecasters, that some find annoying, are doing the job they were trained to do by warning residents of any danger that might harm them. Thank goodness there are people who do care for others safety.
Its obvious from what I observed, that some Emporians have not been through a deadly earthquake. Just think how many lives could be saved if only there was a warning available for earthquakes as there is for a tornado.
Thank you to those individuals who kept us informed of a possible disaster on Friday.
June 15, 2008 at 6:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
justthefacts (anonymous) says...
The outdoor warning system is designed to warn for any potential danger or disaster. A lot of people only associate them with tornadoes because that is what they are usually applied to around here. If you hear the sirens go off, you should be turning on a radio to find out what is going on. It could be a chemical spill, earthquake, nuclear accident at Wolf Creek or other things. A weather radio can also be used for other emergencies. If you don't have several of them at your home and work, you should get them asap.
June 15, 2008 at 8:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )