Thunderstorm warning, tornado watch issued for Wichita area

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch until 10 p.m. Thursday and a flash flood watch for the Wichita metropolitan area until 1 p.m. Friday.

Rain began falling in the downtown area shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday.

A severe thunderstorm watch was also issued after radar detected a thunderstorm near Mulvane moving northeast at 45 mph shortly after 1 p.m. Thursday. Gusts of 60 mph and quarter-size hail were expected, but the watch was allowed to expire after 2 p.m. Rains, again, began falling shortly before 5 p.m.

Much of central Kansas remains in a flash-flood watch through Friday. Grounds are saturated from recent rainfall over the past several days.

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 1:34 PM with the headline "Thunderstorm warning, tornado watch issued for Wichita area."