Heavy Rain Floods Roads, Submerges Cars across the Plains

May 5,2015



 

Floodwaters reach to the bumper of a minivan in Manhattan, Kansas, Monday evening. (Kerri Nelson/Instagram)

Thunderstorms drenched the Plains Monday and overnight into Tuesday, flooding roads, submerging cars and stranding drivers in Texas' south plains and Kansas.
According to weather.com meteorologist Linda Lam, nearly 3 inches fell in Manhattan, Kansas in a matter of hours. Over 4 inches of rain were reported just northwest of Manhattan. That's a new record for Manhattan; the last time the city saw near that amount of rain was in 1908.
Lubbock, Texas, saw 3 to 4 inch per hour rainfall rates that forced officials to close roads.
(MORE: Severe Weather Threat Repeats in Midwest, Plains) 
Photos out of Kansas show people wading in water up to their knees and floodwaters reaching up to vehicle bumpers. Manhattan is the home of Kansas State University, and campus police asked people to avoid campus roads.

Crews rescue a woman trapped in floodwaters in Lubbock, Texas.
(Lubbock Fire Department )

The city urged residents to check for flooded roads via the city's interactive map, which is typically used to monitor snow removal crews during the winter.
Floods were severe enough in Lubbock, Texas, Monday to prompt at least one heavy water rescue when a woman's car completely submerged.
KCBD reports that in addition to closures on US 62 and FM 385, flooding prompted home evacuations and cut off power to over 100 customers Monday.
The Lubbock Fire Department says crews responded to more than 50 calls from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., including structure fires and water rescues.
Officials in Lubbock closed a handful of local roads Tuesday and limited waste disposal services.
Monday night, dozens of drivers were left stranded on US 87, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
At Tahoka First Baptist Church nearby, pastor Bill Fuller and a group of volunteers hosted around 60 stranded motorists.
“The whole town turned out for this,” Fuller said.
Tahoka ISD is closed today and school buses in Lubbock were running pavement-only.
Overnight into Tuesday, floodwaters were enough to send cars onto the front lawn of a local church,according to KCBD.

"Flooding along 22nd and Ave. W was so bad that it pushed these cars on to the front of Redeemer Lutheran Church."
(Twitter/PVillacinKCBD)

As a reminder, flash flooding can be particularly dangerous, and you should never walk through floodwaters -- even if they seem harmless.



MORE: Louisville, Kentucky Flooding, April 3