Salina Journal News: Rainfall in Salina area varies from 1 to 4 inches

Rainfall in Salina area varies from 1 to 4 inches

4/28/2009

Rainfall in Salina area varies from 1 to 4 inches

Salina Journal

Saline County sheriff's deputies used their rescue boat for the first time Monday to rescue a bread delivery man whose van was stuck on a flooded Kansas Highway 4 south of Gypsum.

"He was in about four to five feet of water," Sheriff Glen Kochanowski said. "Water was up to the headlights, probably above the headlights. He was in the truck. He was OK, but there was quite a current over the road."

Kansas Highway 4 was closed for most of the day, a casualty of Sunday rain that sent some rivers and creeks above flood stage.

The official rainfall for Salina, at the municipal airport, was 1.64 inches, with western portions of Saline County receiving 1.17 to 1.88 inches.

Areas directly south of Salina posted up to 2.82 inches, while eastern and southeastern areas of Saline and western Dickinson County received from 2.6 to 3.79 inches, according to estimates from the National Weather Service. Rainfall estimates exceeded 4 inches in eastern Dickinson County.

Much of that area is in the Smoky Hill River Basin, which sent the river itself and some creeks above flood stage. The weather service measured the Smoky Hill River two miles southeast of Mentor at 18.11 feet Monday morning, more than two feet above flood stage. The river is expected to crest at 28 feet sometime today, southeast of New Cambria, said Bryan Armstrong, director of Saline County Emergency Management.

"We're keeping an eye on it," he said Monday. "Right now, it looks like it's not as big of a concern. (The river) should be gradually going down as the day proceeds, since the rain stopped."

Gypsum Creek, four miles south of Gypsum, was at 18.9 feet Monday morning, nearly four feet above flood stage.

High water on Kansas Highway 4 and county roads caused the Southeast of Saline School District to close Monday.

The bread delivery driver was attempting to get to Southeast of Saline School when he drove into the high water about 11 a.m., Kochanowski said.

Kochanowski said deputies used the boat to rescue the driver, then assisted a tow truck driver in attaching a line to the truck so it could be pulled from the water.

The sheriff didn't know whether the driver had driven around barricades or whether he was issued any traffic citations.