Severe thunderstorm activity has developed across the core KVOE listening area.
Active severe weather warnings
*Central Lyon: Flash flood warning until 11:45 pm
*Northern Chase: Flood warning until 10:30 pm
*Central Coffey: Severe thunderstorm warning until 11:00 pm
*Southern Coffey: Flash flood warning until 1:00 am
Active severe weather watches
*Tornado watch for Chase, Greenwood, Morris, Osage counties until 1:00 am Tuesday
Active flood warnings
The KVOE listening area remains under flood warnings
*Cottonwood River near Emporia affecting Lyon County
*Cottonwood River near Plymouth affecting Chase and Lyon Counties until 8:24 am May 10th
*Cottonwood River near Florence affecting Marion County until 8:24 am May 10th
*Cottonwood River at Cottonwood Falls affecting Chase County until 8:24 am May 10th
*Marais Des Cygnes near Quenemo affecting Franklin and Osage Counties
*Neosho River near Emporia affecting Lyon County
*Neosho River near Neosho Rapids affecting Lyon County
*Salt Creek near Lyndon affecting Osage County
5:30 pm Monday: Tornado watch areawide until 1 am Tuesday
The KVOE listening area is under a tornado watch until early Tuesday.
Shortly after 5:00 pm, the Storm Prediction Center issued a watch for Lyon and all surrounding counties until 1:00 am Tuesday. Besides isolated tornadoes, hail to the size of hen eggs and wind gusts approaching 70 mph are possible.
In addition, flooding rain is possible with any storms that develop, regardless of whether they become severe. Flash flood watches begin at 7:00 pm areawide and continue for Lyon, Coffey, Morris, Osage, and Wabaunsee counties until early Thursday, with Chase and Greenwood counties in a separate watch until Wednesday evening. The Cottonwood River at Cottonwood Falls and Plymouth is also under a flood warning until Friday.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for updates. Follow KVOE on Facebook@kvoenews or Twitter@kvoeam1400 for instant weather alerts.
3:20 pm Monday: River-based flood warnings up west of Emporia as Monday evening severe weather risk continues
Concerns about potential flooding have prompted the National Weather Service to issue river-based flood warnings west of Emporia even before any rainfall begins.
Warnings were issued around 3 pm for the Cottonwood River at Plymouth and at Cottonwood Falls:
*Plymouth: Warning from Tuesday afternoon until 8:20 am Friday, As of 3:00 pm, the river as just over 9 feet, well below flood stage of 32. However, the Weather Service expects the river will rise past flood stage by Tuesday afternoon and crest near 35.5 feet early Wednesday. This would be more than enough to inundate Road A near the river gauge. The river should go below flood stage Thursday evening.
*Cottonwood Falls: Warning from Tuesday afternoon until noon Friday. As of 3:00 pm, the river was just over 2 feet. The Cottonwood should rise above the 9-foot flood stage and crest at 11 feet Wednesday morning, enough to flood parts of Bates Park and nearby cropland in Cottonwood Falls.
The flood warnings come with anywhere from 1-3 inches of rain expected for KVOE listeners through Wednesday night. Some residents could get significantly more — up to 5 or 6 inches — after much of the area picked up 3-7 inches of rain last week.
The warnings also come as the Lyon County Highway Department has reopened most of the 30-plus roads and intersections closed for much of last week due to flooding. Only five roads remain closed at this time:
*Road 150 from Kansas Highway 99 east to M
*Road D north of 150
*Road E north of 150
*Road G south of 160
*Road G-5 south of 160
Besides flooding, severe weather is also a risk afternoon and evenings through Wednesday.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for updates.
6:30 am Monday: Flash flood, severe weather risks start this week
Flash flooding and severe weather risks are with us through the middle of this week.
The National Weather Service has issued flash flood watches for the entire KVOE listening area, with Lyon, Coffey, Morris, Osage, and Wabaunsee in a watch until 1:00 am Thursday and Chase and Greenwood counties in a separate watch until 7 pm Wednesday. TV-13 meteorologist Doug Meyers says we could get significant rainfall totals by the time the current watches are set to expire.
The Cottonwood at Emporia and Neosho at Neosho Rapids just got back into their banks Saturday after anywhere from 3 to 7 inches of rain in Lyon County last week. However, around 30 county roads and intersections are still officially closed due to the flooding last week. The full list:
*Road 145 east of F
*Road 145 west of the Neosho Rapids river bridge
*Road 150 from C to F; Kansas Highway 99 west to J and east to M; from N to R; west of the Neosho Rapids river bridge
*Road 155 west of Kansas Highway 99 and south of Road W
*Road 160 from G-5 to H; from R to S
*Road 167 from R
*Road 190 from K to L
*Road A from 170 to 180
*Road C north of 150
*Road D north of 150
*Road E north of 150
*Road G north of 140 and south of 160; from 160 to 170
*Road H north of 140; from 160 to 165
*Road J (Prairie Street) south of 160; from West 30th (Road 190) to Road 215
*Road K north of 140
*Road M from 140 to 150
*Road P north of 140 and north of 150
*Road R from 150 to 160
*Road S north of 130
*Road T north of 130
*Road V north of 120
*Road W north of 110
Flooding is still having an impact on parts of the listening area. The US Army Corps of Engineers has closed several campsites at Melvern Lake, especially in the Coeur d’Alene and Turkey Point recreation areas. All affected sites are closed through May 15.
Meanwhile, we have severe thunderstorm chances Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of Kansas, including the entire KVOE listening area, is in a slight risk area for Monday. A marginal risk, the lowest-end risk category available through the Storm Prediction Center, is up for the area Tuesday, with a marginal-to-slight risk up for Wednesday. Meyers says all hazards are possible each day through Wednesday, although the number of overnight storms could affect the severe weather risk Tuesday and Wednesday.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for flood updates. Make sure to follow us on Twitter@kvoeam1400 or Facebook@kvoenews for instant alerts.
