Heavy rain swept father and son off Kansas road. They were found dead inside the car

A Kansas father and his son were found dead in a car with the windows up after heavy rain flooded parts of Montgomery County, the emergency management director told KOTV.

The two men were killed after their car was “swept off the road during heavy rainfall” on Tuesday evening, the sheriff’s office posted to Facebook. A meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita said the victims were swept off a road that crossed over tiny Racket Creek north of Elk City Lake.

The men have been identified as 72-year-old Dennis Clark Catron Sr. and Dennis Clark Catron Jr., the sheriff’s office said. Both are from rural Elk City.

Wichita’s branch of the National Weather Service tweeted that southeast Kansas received 7 to 9 inches of “intense rainfall.”

“Widespread flooding, numerous water rescues in and around Independence,” the branch tweeted.

The nature of the storms “was more indicative of the Gulf Coast than here,” meteorologist Andy Kleinsasser told The Wichita Eagle. Rain fell at a rate of 1 to 3 inches an hour for several hours.

The sheriff’s office said deputies responded to “multiple calls of stranded motorists” throughout the evening, and some first responders went door to door to warn residents of the high water levels.

This story was originally published August 15, 2018 at 12:13 PM.