Print edition: 
Potent thunderstorms pounded the Wichita area Thursday night, flooding streets and knocking down power lines and tree limbs but otherwise sparing the region of serious damage.
A lightning strike knocked down a boy and a number of adults at youth baseball league games in Goddard as people dispersed because the head umpire learned of a possible tornado near Colwich, parents reported via Facebook.
Cheree Faber Hull said in a Facebook message to The Eagle about her 11-year-old son, Wade: "He said he heard it, blacked out and woke up on the ground with his feet hurting,"
He was standing outside the family's SUV when the lightning struck, Hull said.
Authorities were not notified of the lightning strike, Goddard Police Chief Sam Houston said. By the time an officer arrived at the fields to warn people of the storm, he said, they were leaving.
"That definitely sounds like a lightning strike to me," National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Ketcham said. "It sounds like they were pretty lucky."
A rope tornado touched down briefly north of Colwich, he said, but did not stay on the ground long enough to do significant damage.
Multiple tornado warnings were issued for Sedgwick County during the evening, and several funnel clouds were reported — more than one of them over Wichita.
But no other tornadoes touched down.
The storms prompted officials to cancel evening activities at the Wichita River Festival. Crowds sought shelter at Century II, Exploration Place, WaterWalk and the Hyatt Regency Wichita.
Hail the size of softballs was reported near Mount Hope. Hailstones the size of ping pong balls and baseballs hit Goddard.
"I lost about half my fleet due to hail," Houston said.
Seven police cars lost windshields and sustained substantial body damage in the hail storm, he said, and several public works vehicles were damaged.
Hail about the size of golf balls was reported in several locations and broke vehicles' windows near Bentley in Harvey County.
Small hail fell for perhaps a half hour in west Wichita.
Trees were snapped off and a fence blown over in Andover, and more trees and an awning were knocked down by strong winds in Towanda, authorities said. In Sumner County, trees were blown over and siding was blown off a city building in Belle Plaine.
"Considering what we were looking at for a while, we really got off lucky," Butler County Emergency Management Director Jim Schmidt said.
There were multiple reports of winds topping 70 mph near El Dorado, weather service meteorologist Vanessa Pearce said.
Nearly three inches of rain fell in west Wichita Thursday night, Pearce said. The 2.82 inches is more than fell in all of May.
More strong storms are possible in the Wichita area today and tonight, forecasters say.
