Flash Flood — Reno, Kansas

2013-08-04 · near South Hutchinson, Reno, Kansas

Event narrative

Extreme street flooding and flash flooding occurred across the area, as 6 to 7 inches of rainfall fell over Hutchinson and Nickerson during the early morning hours. Numerous cars stalled out and were abandoned on city streets, with widespread basement flooding reported. During a 90 minute period, between 130am and 3am, some locations in Hutchinson picked up 3 to 5 inches of rainfall. At least 325 homes in the city of Hutchinson reported some property damage due to flooding, with 10 to 24 of the homes receiving major damage. 150 residents from a nursing home in Northwest Hutchinson were evacuated to a local hospital, because water was coming into the building. The water on city streets was so deep, at times, that large military type vehicles could not venture down the roads.

Wider weather episode

A couple of large complexes of thunderstorms moved along or just north of a stationary frontal boundary situated over Southern Kansas, during the early morning hours of August 4th and August 5th, 2012. Abundant moisture running over the top of this boundary, and the slow movement and back building of the complex of storms led to widespread flash flooding across portions of Central Kansas from Hutchinson to Newton to the Flint Hills. The hardest hit areas were over Hutchinson, which received 6.7 inches of rainfall in a six hour period, and across Barton and Rice counties, which had reports of 4 to 5 inches. The city streets were overwhelmed with heavy rainfall over a short period of time, which led to numerous stalled cars, flooded basements and evacuations. This heavy rainfall was a continuation of a stagnant weather pattern that brought heavy rainfall to the area beginning the last week of July, 2012 and continued into early August. This relentless heavy rainfall pattern led to river flooding, and widespread flash flooding.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (37.9972, -97.9788)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 473273. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.