Much of central Kansas under tornado watch from National Weather Service’s Wichita branch
The National Weather Service in Wichita has issued a tornado watch for much of south-central and southeast Kansas.
The tornado watch lasts until 1 a.m. and includes the following counties: Allen, Anderson, Butler, Chase, Coffey, Cowley, Douglas, Elk, Ellsworth, Franklin, Greenwood, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Lyon, Marion, McPherson, Morris, Neosho, Osage, Reno, Rice, Saline, Sedgwick, Sumner, Wilson and Woodson.
The threat includes a possibility for a couple tornadoes, scattered hail up to the size of a lime and scattered wind gusts of up to 70 mph.
The storms come after six tornadoes touched down across portions of central Kansas on Sunday. They all tracked across rural areas.
The National Weather Service reported an EF-1 tornado about 5.5 miles southeast of Ellinwood and EF-0 tornadoes 4 miles south of Alden, 5 miles southwest of Nickerson, 2 miles southwest of South Hutchinson, 3 miles southeast of South Hutchinson and 2 miles northwest of Wellington.
A flash flood watch was issued for much of south-central and southeast Kansas.
The weather service has also issued flood warnings for some areas along the Little Arkansas River and the Arkansas River. They include Little Arkansas River locations at Alta Mills in Harvey and Reno counties, near Halstead in Harvey County and near Sedgwick in Sedgwick County, and Arkansas River locations near Haven in Reno and Sedgwick counties, at Derby in Sedgwick County, near Mulvane in Sedgwick and Sumner counties and at Oxford in Sumner County.
The weather service’s forecast for Wichita, as of 7:30 p.m. Monday, called for a 90 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms during the night. The storms could be severe with heavy rain.
The storms are expected to continue into Tuesday morning, with a 70 percent chance of precipitation, mostly before 10 a.m. The forecast calls for more rain Tuesday night, Wednesday and Wednesday night.
This is a developing story and will be updates as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published May 6, 2019 at 7:56 PM.