On Monday, August 21st, 2017, severe rainstorms were brought across the Kansas City area that led to a major Kansas City flash flood by the following day. On Tuesday morning, Indian Creek was already at flooding levels that beat the record for flood water in late July. In just 30 days, ending on August 22nd, the Kansas City metro area was hit with up to 25 inches of rain. Many people were not expecting this kind of severity and had to experience many traumatizing situations throughout the next couple of weeks.
Evacuations
According to Kansas City Police, Indian Creek from 103rd and Stateline to Wornall Road, as well as near 99th and Holmes, evacuations were in effect. An apartment complex was also evacuated. The complex was located by the Blue River, which was expected to rise to its second-highest water level by early Tuesday. The only record to top this water level was the September 1961 flood. Late evacuations were extremely dangerous for residents as many ended up on rooftops or stuck in their cars in high flooding waters.
Power Outages
Winds were reportedly up to 70 miles per hour across the metro area. From the harshness of these winds and the severeness of the storm, the power went down all across the metro area. It was reported from Kansas City Power & Light that more than 13,000 customers were without power. Even the power to the Kansas City Star building was knocked out during this time. Traffic signals were knocked out of power on the roads in the downtown Kansas City area. Not only power outages were occurring, but also transformers were catching on fire, power lines were going down, and tree damage was occurring. Trees that were going down were landing and damaging homes, cars, and power lines.
Standing Water
The dangers of standing floodwaters are very serious as it is hard to tell how deep the water is. There were several feet of standing water in main roadways among the Kansas City area including Westport Road and Mill Street, Southwest Boulevard, 31st Street, and West Pennway Terrace. Interstate 35 even reportedly had up to 3 feet of standing water covering the road Monday night. According to the Kansas City Star, a 56-year-old man was killed when he drove into unexpected standing water. The death occurred on U.S. 69 at 363rd St early on Tuesday morning.
Water Rescues
It was reported by the Kansas City Police Department that in just one day of the flooding, there were 272 calls for water rescues. Many of these rescues included residents in trees, on rooftops, stuck in their cars, or even stuck in the flooding waters. The Kansas City Fire Department reported that there was a woman who they rescued from a tree after the floodwaters washed her car away. As the floodwater was taking her car away, she was able to escape the vehicle. But, the car ended up flipping on its side and pinning her to a nearby tree. She was thankfully able to climb up the tree as the car continued to be washed away. She was rescued shortly after.
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Filed under Uncategorized, Water Management
Tags: foundation damage KC, KC flash flooding, KC flood