The Wichita Eagle
(TNS)
Tuesday’s torrential rainfall flooded streets and stalled cars across Wichita.
Colin Fee saw several vehicles stalling and people being rescued in front of his home, which sits on the southwest corner of First Street and Bleckley in the Crown Heights neighborhood.
Fee moved into the neighborhood four years ago and said the area is prone to flooding. He said he has helped people get out of their vehicles in the past during floods.
“I can count maybe 10, 12 water rescues where I’ve had to pull people out of their cars... given them a towel,” Fee said over the phone.
Tuesday, a Honda sedan spun out in Fee’s front yard and nearly struck a fire hydrant. The rainwater was too strong for Fee to get out there.
“It was just a riptide [of rainwater] that she just sat there. My neighbor from across the street went over and at least got her to roll her window down,” Fee said. “He talked to her for probably 30 minutes before firefighters showed and got her out. They had a raft, stapled it into my yard, wrapped around a tree and sort of created a perimeter to catch her.”
While firefighters were still at the scene after rescuing the woman in the Honda, a white Pontiac passenger car attempted to drive through and stalled. Firefighters were able to rescue a man and woman inside the vehicle, according to Fee.
The last rescue occurred at one of Fee’s neighbors’ homes and involved a PODS shipping container.
“So I’m looking down and one of my neighbors is either moving in or moving out, because they had a PODS truck outside. And so the driver of the PODS truck, who was either picking up or dropping off, just backed a huge delivery truck up behind the pod to keep the pod from floating down the street,” Fee said. “I can’t imagine the amount of destruction that would have happened if there was just a loose pod, you know, floating, and so that guy [pod truck driver] was also rescued.
Wichita and surrounding portions of the state are under a flood warning until 11 p.m., which could increase flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations, according to the National Weather Service.
“At 454 PM CDT, Doppler radar and automated rain gauges indicated heavy rain due to thunderstorms. Flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly in the warned area. Between 2 and 3 inches of rain have fallen. - Additional rainfall amounts of 1.5 to 2.5 inches are possible in the warned area,” the flood warning read.
The Kansas Department of Transportation is also warning drivers traveling on U.S. 54 that flooding has affected multiple ramps eastbound and westbound.
“While no ramps are currently closed due to floodwater overtaking the ramps, conditions can change rapidly,” a KDOT news release said. “Drivers are advised to allow extra travel time, use alternate routes when possible.”
The flooding prompted Gov. Laura Kelly to issue a state of disaster emergency.
The declaration was issued at 2:08 p.m. “due to heavy rainfall impacting portions of the state with the potential of flooding and flash flooding,” a state news release said.
The declaration allows local governments to use state assistance and resources during the flooding. Sedgwick County also declared a state of local disaster emergency.
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