Photo by Jordan Haiduk
This morning’s storm brought wind along with its heavy rain. The wind brought down this tree on the west side of the Emporia Public Library at Sixth Avenue and Mechanic Street. City workers were at work early, cutting it up.
Emporia firefighters were called out early this morning to rescue a woman trapped in her car by flood waters as a heavy thunderstorm moved through the area overnight.
The storm appeared to hit hardest in Lyon, Chase and Greenwood counties. It caused flooding and closed roads throughout the county and, for a time, halted traffic on the Americus Road south of Americus and on Road 240 east of Americus.
Classes were cancelled in the Madison-Virgil school district, and were delayed by one hour in the North Lyon County and Southern Lyon County districts.
The Kansas Turnpike was closed for several hours from the Emporia interchange at Milepost 127 south to Cassoday.
The woman rescued this morning in northeast Emporia had driven into high water at Burlingame Road and Riley Street; she was unaware the area had flooded.
Fire Capt. Bill West and firefighter Spencer Olson pulled up to the car with Fire Engine 1 and helped her from the vehicle, Olson said. No one was injured and barricades were placed on the road.
Emporia police reported they also had placed barricades at the Mechanic Street underpass, 12th Avenue and Mary Street, and Sixth Avenue and East Street, after the driving rain brought in more water than storm sewers could carry away efficiently.
In the county surrounding Emporia, workers from the Road and Bridge Department were busy taking care of county roads that had gone under water.
“We’re putting barricades up as we speak,” a department employee said this morning.
Road 30 between Roads K and L closed shortly after 9:30 today because of flood-related damage to a timber culvert. The road is expected to be closed at least three weeks, until repairs can be made.
Chase County school superintendent Greg Markowitz said in an e-mail that floodwaters apparently came up much quicker than anticipated, which caused cancellation of classes and activities.
Flooding apparently was heavy in the Matfield Green area and roads in Chase County were being flooded.
Markowitz said that bus drivers, who already had started their routes, were turning around to go home.
“They will take students that they have already picked up back home, and not run the rest of the route,” Markowitz said.
Rainfall totals varied for Emporia, from the National Weather Service’s official reading of 1.65 inches at the Emporia Municipal Airport to 2.7 inches at a home in north-central Emporia.
Mike Couch, NWS meterological technician in Topeka, said that the river gauge at Americus had registered 3.36 inches of rainfall, while an automated sensor gauge estimated 5.5 inches in that area.
“So the 5.5 is definitely suspect,” Couch said.
An employee of the Southern Lyon County school district said that employees and district patrons reported from 2 to 6 inches of rain in the district. Some students and staff members were waiting until low-water bridge flooding went down to come in to classes.
South of Hartford approximately eight or nine miles, water was running over the blacktop road.
About one inch of rain was reported unofficially west of Reading and about 1.5 inches at Lebo.
“We’ve got a lot of water over the roads, which is the creeks and things backing up,” a Coffey County dispatcher said.
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