Heavy rain returned to the KVOE listening area Friday following a two-day break.
The rain came down in sheets as a line of storms trained on the same ground for several hours.
*KVOE Studios – 1.3 inches
*Near Emporia High School – 1 inch
*Southern Emporia – 1.37 inches
*Southeastern Emporia – 2.6 inches
*Bushong – 1.2 inches
*Cedar Point – 5.25 inches
*Cottonwood Falls – 3.6 inches
*Hartford – 3.5 inches
*Madison – 2.5 inches
*Melvern – 1.25 inches
*Neosho Rapids – 2.75 inches
*Olpe – 3.25 inches
*West of Americus – 2.2 inches
*John Redmond Reservoir – 3.1 inches
*5 miles east of Madison – 5 inches
Road closures and other county-by-county information:
Lyon County
*Kansas Highway 99 from Soden’s Grove to Road 130
*2100-2200 blocks Rd 40
*170 between Y & Z
*Road 250 between Roads D & F
*Road H between Roads 130 & 140
*300 block X
*300-500 blocks Y
Lyon County Deputy Danny Broyles says most of the flash flooding from Friday night has subsided.
Chase County
*Numerous county roads closed. Dispatch says many roads that are impassable are not barricaded with the county running out of blockages.
Coffey County
*K58 2 miles east of US-75
*Severe flooding was reported Friday at Country Club Heights in Burlington, forcing a short-term evacuation. Several pets and nearly 20 people were evacuated from the area and taken to a Red Cross shelter at Burlington’s First Baptist Church. The evacuation effort is now over.
Coffey County Emergency Management Director Russel Stukey.
Stukey adds flood issues could be exacerbated by continued release increases at John Redmond Reservoir and the potential for further rainfall in the coming days. Stukey also says residents who believe they may need shelter should contact the Coffey County Sheriff’s office at 620-364-2123. Residents may also receive updates by texting JRR2019 to 888-777.
Greenwood County
*Two people were rescued from floodwaters near the intersection of AA-50 and 147th. The National Guard helped local authorities with that effort, which developed shortly before 4 am Saturday.
*Authorities spent much of Friday night and early Saturday evacuating residents near the Fall River Reservoir. One resident refused to leave, but overall Greenwood County authorities say the effort was successful. County leadership is coordinating with the US Army Corps of Engineers and Kansas Division of Emergency Management on flood response. Fall River Reservoir is now releasing around 36,000 cubic feet of water per second — believe to be an all-time high out of the lake.
Greenwood County Emergency Management Director Levi Vinson says the majority of Saturday will be spent by Road and Bridge crews surveying all impacted roadways to assess the extent of work which will be needed to fully repair all damage caused by the unprecedented amount of rainfall from Friday.
Vinson anticipates the full scope of work could take a number of weeks to be fully completed.
The KVOE listening area saw several tornado warnings throughout the early afternoon and evening Friday. Thankfully there were no confirmed touchdowns in the listening area.
Close to 20 different outage points were reported in Emporia with nearly 300 Westar customers impacted.
Most river gauges remain in flood through the KVOE listening area.
The Cottonwood is in flood from Emporia west to Plymouth.
*At Emporia the river is at 24.99 feet above flood stage of 20 feet. The river may rise to 25.4 by Saturday evening. The river may not drop below flood stage until Tuesday afternoon.
*At Plymouth, the river is currently at 33.62 feet, flood stage is 32 feet. The river could crest at 34.2 feet later this afternoon before possibly dropping below flood stage by Monday.
The Neosho is also in flood from Neosho Rapids southeast to LeRoy.
*At Neosho Rapids, the river is at 25.78 feet above flood stage of 22 feet. Current projections have the river cresting at 27.1 feet by early Sunday. The river may drop below flood stage by Monday evening.
*At Burlington, the river is at 31.31 feet above the flood stage of 27 but below a crest of 31.93 from Saturday evening. The river is dropping and may hold steady at 31.1 feet for several days.
*At LeRoy, the river was last observed at 28.85 ft above flood stage of 23 feet. The river may drop to 28.8 feet before holding steady right around 27 feet throughout the majority of this upcoming week.
As the third round of flooding this month continues, the situation at Emporia’s Wastewater Treatment Plant is improving in at least one way. Assistant City Manager Lane Massey:
One filter was damaged earlier this month. Another was taken offline as a precautionary measure, but city leaders have been told it can be used.
Unfortunately, the facility is now dealing with water coming in at four to seven times the normal flow rate and double the facility’s capacity. Massey tells KVOE News the plant typically handles between 3 million and 5 million gallons of water a day, and it can handle up to 12 million gallons at its peak. The current flow is around 20 million, and it has been as high as 22 million gallons this month. This means a lot of water is bypassing the treatment process. Massey says there could be some raw sewage going into the Cottonwood River, but the vast majority of the bypass water is simply untreated floodwater.
Massey says no issues have been reported downstream, but he expects some sort of widespread boil water advisory could be issued later by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment because of the extensive flooding across Kansas this month.
The damaged ultraviolet filters were almost brand-new as the city concludes an extended facility upgrade to meet recent federal mandates on nutrient levels. Massey says it may be several months before the damaged equipment can be totally replaced.
After increasing water releases at John Redmond Reservoir at times Wednesday, the Army Corps of Engineers is now holding the release at 29,200 cubic feet per second, Flood-prone areas in Burlington and LeRoy in Coffey County are impassable in several areas, so evacuations are voluntary but now strongly encouraged. Sandbags and sand are available for Coffey County residents at the northwest corner of the Burlington High School parking lot. The Red Cross still has its shelter at the Allen County Community College Red Barn in Iola for residents needing a place to stay. Coffey County residents who evacuate are told to call the Coffey County Sheriff’s Office at 620-364-2123 so authorities can account for those who have evacuated and those who have not.
Releases continue as well from Council Grove and Marion reservoirs, although not nearly to those levels. The release from Council Grove Reservoir is less than 900 cfs. The release at Marion Reservoir is almost 1,700 cfs.
All this water is having an impact on state lakes. The Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism says all campgrounds and day-use facilities at Fall River State Park are closed until further notice. Melvern Lake, meanwhile, has numerous closures at the Arrow Rock site through June 30. There are also a host of closures at the Coeur d’Alene site through June 30 and at Turkey Point, with some closures possibly opening by May 30 and others not likely to reopen until June 30. People can go online to www.kshuntfishcamp.com to check on campsite and cabin availability.
Looking ahead to Saturday, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Gargan says storms are likely — but they will be more isolated than Friday’s activity and the main area of heavy rain is to our north.
High wind is the main concern along with heavy rain.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for updates. Join KVOE’s social media accounts on Twitter@kvoeam1400 or Facebook@kvoenews for instant weather and travel alerts if you have not already done so. Also, make sure to download the free KVOE mobile app so you have our severe weather coverage wherever you may be.
If you have rain or storm reports, call KVOE at 342-1400 or message KVOE on Facebook@kvoenews.
Photos by Chuck Samples/KVOE News
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