County escapes storms
On Tuesday, 25 years to the day after a tornado leveled Andover, a huge chunk of the Midwest — including Jackson County — was getting ready in case another major tornado should tear its way through the region that night.
None did, however, although the storm system that covered most of Kansas did produce a minor tornado in the southern part of the state and hailstones as big as grapefruit northwest of Marysville, it was reported. Jackson County, for the most part, escaped from Tuesday’s storms unscathed.
“Last night, we had that storm warning in the southwest part of the county,” Jackson County Sheriff Tim Morse said this morning. “But that storm cell just kind of petered out before it got too far into the county. We didn’t get any reports of hail or wind damage. We mainly just had rain.”
The Holton area received anywhere from two to three inches of rain, with more reported in some parts of the county where Morse said it had gone over the roads. Locations where water covered the roads included Q4 Road just north of the Holton city limits, 250th and M roads, 118th and I roads, 106th Road west of I Road, 326th and N roads and 98th Road between V and V4 roads.
Sections of Kansas Highways 16 and 116 that have been prone to flooding in the past were subject to water over the road, Morse said, with K-16 flooding over at Y Road and K-116 flooding over at Z Road. The Kansas Department of Transportation reported this morning that K-116 between Larkinburg and Arrington was closed due to flooding.
In Holton, Police Chief Gale Gakle said there were “some localized areas where the water got a little bit deep,” but for the most part, floodwaters dissipated when the rain stopped.
The National Weather Service issued a statement on Monday warning that most of Kansas was in an area that had potential for “life-threatening, strong tornadoes” as well as damaging winds and large hail. Flooding was also likely with Tuesday’s storm system, NWS officials stated.
The storm began to form in central Kansas shortly after 2:30 p.m., causing thunderstorm warnings to pop up along a line stretching from Concordia to Pittsburg. NWS noted that a tornado had been spotted near Bushong in northern Lyon County at about 3:25 p.m. and that another one had been spotted south of Manhattan in west central Wabaunsee County about 20 minutes later.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m., another line of strong storms stretching from Wichita southwest into Oklahoma produced a tornado in southwestern Sumner County. The storm appeared to be heading toward Andover — where an F5 tornado ripped the city apart and resulted in 17 deaths 25 years earlier — but the most the Wichita-area community received was heavy rain and small hail.
Then, shortly before 5 p.m., a flash flood warning covering southwestern Jackson County was issued by NWS, which also placed Shawnee County under a tornado warning soon afterward.
Northeastern Kansas continued to be on alert for severe weather through the evening, and a flood warning remained in effect this morning along Soldier Creek in the southwestern part of the county.
Prior to Tuesday’s afternoon and evening storms, another storm came through early Tuesday morning, causing minor damages in some parts of the area, including downed tree limbs. At about 6:40 a.m., NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning for northeastern Jackson and Brown counties that lasted for about an hour.
Morse said some trees in northern Jackson County were knocked over by Tuesday’s early morning storm and were moved from rural roadways by county road and bridge personnel. Gakle added that in Holton, there were some intersections that flooded temporarily but cleared once the rain stopped.
More rain thunderstorms were expected to move through the Jackson County area this morning and afternoon, and more rain is forecast to move into the area late Friday and early Saturday. See the local weather forecast on Page 2 of today’s Recorder for more information.
