Wichita repeatedly hit with hail, heavy rain

The storms came as promised – wind, hail and heavy rain.

But, at least by Tuesday evening, the outbreak of tornadoes forecast to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the killer Andover tornado were staying clear from the Wichita metropolitan area.

“It’s looking like after the initial round, the severe weather threats seem to slightly be diminishing,” Andy Kleinsasser, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said shortly after 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. “The parameters we had coming together for a potentially loud outbreak of tornadoes didn’t materialize.”

A second round of hail and heavy rain began falling at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for Sedgwick County and western Sumner County.

A flash-flood warning was issued for the downtown Wichita area. Wichita police were kept busy with non-injury accidents as the heavy rain fell, a Sedgwick County dispatcher said. More than 3 inches of rain had fallen by 7:30 p.m. in southwest Wichita, and another 1 to 2 inches was predicted.

Also Tuesday night, the Kansas Turnpike Authority issued a warning to motorists about an accident south of the Towanda Service Area, telling them to use caution because all lanes were blocked and traffic was moving along the road’s shoulder.

Wichita police were flooded with calls from area residents about streets that were sometimes waist-deep in water. Areas to be avoided included the intersections of Harry and Seneca, Ninth and Emporia, St. Louis and Young, 71st and Broadway in Haysville, 55th Street South and Clifton, Pawnee and Broadway, Lincoln and George Washington Boulevard, Bleckley and English, Pawnee and Meridian, Douglas and Glendale, and Second and St. Francis.

On Tuesday before the storms arrived, Wichitans were taking precautions. McConnell Air Force Base officials ordered the evacuation of the base’s aircraft; Wichita State University and Wichita-area public schools let out classes early. The Wichita Public Library and the Wichita Park and Recreation department canceled activities, classes and softball games.

It was necessary to take the precautions, Kleinsasser said.

“Given the instability that we had, it was definitely good that those folks took high-end precautions.”

The National Weather Service was predicting Tuesday evening that the storms would generally travel northeast across an area north of the Kansas Turnpike and the Flint Hills, Kleinsasser said.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Wichita repeatedly hit with hail, heavy rain."