DALLAS (AP) — One person has died after severe weather tore through parts of the central U.S., including heavy rain in Dallas, a tornado that touched down in the Kansas City area and flash flooding in Kansas that forced firefighters to rescue dozens of people, including stranded motorists.
A Dallas man died Wednesday after his vehicle became stuck in high water, authorities said. He was in one of two cars submerged under a bridge on Interstate 635, the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department said. Dallas police said officers were able to rescue one driver, and the body of the other driver was recovered by Dallas-Fire Rescue.
In and around Wichita in south-central Kansas, firefighters made about 70 water rescues after heavy rains caused flash flooding, Robb Lawson, a local National Weather Service meteorologist said.
Sedgwick County’s emergency management director, Julie Stimson, said at a briefing Tuesday night that the county had received anywhere from 1 1/2 inches to 7 inches (4 centimeters to 18 centimeters) of rain since Monday. She warned motorists who run into flooded areas not to drive around barricades or emergency vehicles, and to turn around instead.
The Wichita Fire Department used boats to rescue several motorists trapped in their cars. While the water sometimes reached windshield height, some people still attempted to drive through it.
“We have to put ourselves in danger with our life jackets and our boats to get them into a life jacket and into a boat to get them out of the water,” Fire Capt. Lance Diffenbaugh told KSN-TV. “So there’s no sense in it if they can just turn around and wait 10 minutes for the water to go down.”
A few roads remained closed Wednesday morning, according to the county’s interactive map.
About 30 miles (48 kilometers) east, the torrential rainfall caused the Walnut River to overflow, flooding several streets in El Dorado and sending people scrambling for safety.
“By the time we got most of the stuff out of there and were going to get the last few things, it was already up to our waist, and we were pretty much swimming to get out,” resident Michelle Yerge told KAKE-TV.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly issued a disaster emergency declaration to enable state agencies to provide assistance.
Severe storms slammed the Kansas City area on Tuesday, with high winds toppling a tractor-trailer on Interstate 435, overturning portable toilets and barriers at the complex where the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals have side-by-side stadiums, and downing trees. The weather service warned of a tornado and urged people to take cover as rain battered the area. No major damage was reported.
Brad Temeyer, a weather service meteorologist, said a tornado touched down in Independence, Missouri, which is northeast of the Chiefs’ and Royals’ complex. He said a weather service survey team was working in the area Wednesday to determine whether that twister hit the sports complex first, or whether a tornado touched down there.
Severe weather on Tuesday also disrupted the Indiana Pacers’ travel plans to the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City, where heavy rain and wind interrupted airport arrivals and departures. The team’s charter was first diverted to Tulsa, Oklahoma. The plane then took a scenic route around another band of weather before finally landing in Oklahoma City about 3 1/2 hours behind schedule.
Wednesday’s forecast for Kansas called for dry conditions, but more storms were forecast for Thursday. Officials warned that the soil in the area is saturated and even an inch or two of rainfall could lead to localized flooding.
“We’re kind of staying in somewhat of a wet, kind of cool, pattern for the next several days,” Lawson said in an interview with AP Radio.
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This story has been corrected to show that the name of the town in Kansas east of Wichita is El Dorado, not Dorado.
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Karnowski reported from Minneapolis. AP Radio’s Julie Walker in New York City and Associated Press writer John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed reporting.
