Search our News List
Heavy Rains Cause Flooding in Parts of Kansas

6/29/2010 Drought & Weather

from the Kansas Department of Agriculture www.ksda.gov

Over the past two weeks, Kansas received from one-half inch to 10 inches of rain.  Most of the heaviest rainfall occurred over north-central and northeast Kansas, which experienced up to six times the normal precipitation for a two-week period during this time of year.

Right: Graphic showing 14-day measured precipitation over Kansas as of June 25 (courtesy of National Weather Service).  

Not surprisingly, the heavy rains caused flooding in some areas.  The Republican River was one of the most notable locations.  The normal flow at Clay Center this time of year is around 1,000 cubic feet per second. However, last week, on June 22, the daily mean flow rose to more than 22,000 cfs – 22 times greater than the normal flow.  The stream level rose about six feet above flood stage.  Yet this was well below the peak recorded streamflow of 195,000 cfs at this location during the flood of 1935, before flood control reservoirs were constructed upstream.

The effect in the Solomon River at Woodston was also dramatic.  Normally flowing at about 10 cfs this time of year, last week the rain-swelled river increased to 4,000 cfs – 400 times greater than the normal flow.  The river rose 12 feet within a few hours on June 20, to six feet over flood stage.  But it was short-lived.  Flows decreased to 200 cfs by last Friday and the stage returned to normal.  This brief flood event was less than the record streamflow of 8,710 cfs at this location in 1993.

Right: Streamgage records showing flow in the Solomon River at Woodston during the week of June 21 (image courtesy of USGS; click to enlarge).

As of Friday afternoon, June 25, three USGS streamgages were still registering flooding in Kansas: Republican River at Clay Center (two feet above flood stage); Big Blue River at Blue Rapids (1.5 feet above flood stage); and Missouri River at St. Joseph, Missouri (opposite Elwood, Kansas, nine feet above flood stage).  The first two locations had dropped below flood stage within a day, and by Monday, June 28, the Missouri River had dropped from moderate to minor flood stage.

Right: Missouri River floodwaters overtopping K-7 Highway near White Cloud on June 25 (photo courtesy of Ken Kopp, DWR).  

Data from all 182 streamgages within or along the borders of Kansas are available on the USGS Kansas Water Science Center’s website.

To learn how you and your community can become more flood-ready, visit DWR’s Floodplain Management website.