Kansas Residents Evacuate Homes as Water Levels Rise

Small creeks and broad rivers swollen by heavy rain topped their banks in much of Kansas on this week, forcing residents from their homes in scattered parts of the state.

Flooding along the Wakarusa River cut off its namesake community south of Topeka. Residents used boats to rescue 22 people from their homes in the small town, said a district chief for an area fire department.

The only reported death occurred Monday morning in western Butler County, east of Wichita. Sheriff Craig Murphy said Richard Bonner, 58, of Benton, died when his sport utility vehicle overturned and flipped into a water-filled ditch along a gravel road between Benton and Andover.

Cow Creek, in central Kansas, rose rapidly from weekend rain that totaled 10 to 12 inches in some places. In rural Rice County, residents and rescuers used personal watercraft to navigate the high water and evacuate neighbors from stranded homes.

Authorities rescued about 500 people around Topeka, many along the swollen Shunganunga and Soldier creeks in the central and northern parts of the city, said Dave Bevans, a spokesman for Shawnee County emergency operations. Many were pulled from their homes and the Red Cross set up a shelter inside the Kansas Expocentre convention hall.

Officials reported similar evacuations by boat in Saline County, about 100 miles to the west, where some locations received 8 inches of rain over the weekend. Flooding forced the evacuation of New Cambria, a town of about 150 people northeast of Salina.

Forecasters predicted a diminished chance of new storms in many areas, but across the eastern half of the state, where rivers and creeks had risen and the ground was saturated, people still watched the sky.

In Rossville, northwest of Topeka, Dennis Hall was busy placing sandbags around his split-level ranch home. “All we can do is wait,” Hall said. “We just don’t need any more rain.”

Topics Homeowners Kansas