Rainfall is heavy in county
Friday, September 12, 2008
Steady rains through much of Thursday and a stronger rainstorm overnight have left from 1.7 inches of rain in Emporia to about 4.5 inches elsewhere in the county on ground already moist below from a wetter-than-normal summer. The majority of the precipitation fell after midnight.
“At my house, we had about 4 and a half inches of rain since it started raining last night,” said Joyce Wilson, Olpe city clerk.
Wilson’s husband had dumped their rain gauge prior to the heavier rain that started Thursday evening.
At the Hartford Elevator, Lyle Rockhill reported 4 inches overnight and another .25 inch since he went to work this morning.
Seven miles north of Emporia, at Americus, City Clerk Marcia Johnson reported a 2.5-inch reading at 7 a.m. by Police Chief Don Harp.
Minor flooding east and south of Emporia already has been reported to Lyon County Engineer Chip Woods.
“Right now we do have some minor flooding, like Road 170, which is old Old Highway 50 east of town,” Woods said. “We have guys out checking the roads and we have the barricades loaded up.”
Woods was apprehensive about effects of the showers and thunderstorms forecast through the weekend.
The county has spent considerable manpower and money reworking roads damaged in previous floods and adding gravel where it has been washed away.
“We’re actually still working on some of the sites from 2007, trying to get them rebuilt,” he said.
Woods said he had heard that precipitation in Emporia stood at 1.7 inches at 7 a.m., with rainfall still heavy at 9 a.m. He was watching the radar then, and said it did not appear that the storm would be out of the area soon.
Four to five inches of rain earlier had been predicted for this area by the National Weather Service.
Up to six inches of rain had been reported in the southern quadrant of Kansas, and updated forecasts projected up to eight inches further south before the day is out, the Associated Press reported. A law enforcement officer in southern Kansas reported a foot of water on U.S. Highway 160 in the town of Harper.
Flood warnings are in effect until at least mid-afternoon.
The weather service predicted showers and possibly thunderstorms with heavy rainfall today and into tonight, when the chance of precipitation will drop from 100 percent to 70 percent.
Saturday’s chances for showers and thunderstorms sat at 60 percent, dropping to 50 percent Saturday night.
Precipitation possibilities stand at only 40 percent on Sunday, with a north wind kicking in between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
By Monday, skies should be mostly sunny, with a high near 74.