More rainfall prompts flash flood watch for Wichita area

Wichita, along with much of south-central and southeastern Kansas, remains in a flash flood watch through Monday morning.

Rain started falling again over Wichita shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday.

The National Weather Service issued the flash flood watch until 1 a.m. Monday, cautioning that the next round of showers and thunderstorms could flood already saturated land with an expected additional 0.25 to 0.50 inches of rainfall.

The watch was issued for Chase, Butler, Sedgwick, Sumner and Cowley counties.

On Saturday, the Wichita metropolitan area received up to 2 inches of rainfall, while rain amounts near the Oklahoma state line were closer to 3 and 4 inches, said Mick McGuire, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita.

On Sunday evening, the Butler County Emergency Management Agency posted on Facebook that the county’s 911 dispatchers were kept busy during Saturday’s rains as residents reported flooding of low-lying roads and county landmarks.

The “Augusta Lake finally over-topped the new spillway during the wee hours of the night,” Butler County’s entry read on Facebook. “As the flood waters surged over the concrete with a thunderous roar, the force of the flow actually caused nearby homes to vibrate”

McGuire said most area rivers and creeks are swollen from recent rains. The Whitewater River near Towanda was nearing flood stage. The Walnut and Whitewater rivers were also nearing flood stage at Augusta. Slate Creek, which runs across much of Sumner County toward Arkansas City, had flooded in the city’s park and southeast side of the town. The Chikaskia River between Caldwell and Wellington has also reached flood stage.

The forecast for much of this coming week calls for rain and more rain.

“We are in this persistent pattern and will keep seeing storm systems develop in the southwest and lifting across the Plains,” McGuire said. “As long as the pattern remains in place, it will continue those chances of storms.”

The rains this weekend put this May on record as the third-wettest in Wichita’s history. As of Saturday, 10.45 inches of rain had fallen since May 1. The second-wettest May was in 1935, when 11.22 inches fell; and the soggiest May in Wichita was in 2008.

This story was originally published May 24, 2015 at 7:47 PM with the headline "More rainfall prompts flash flood watch for Wichita area."