Weather

 

2023-7-17 - Daytime view of mid-to-far-back yard

More often than not here in Kansas, we are complaining about lack of moisture in our daily weather. Not in June 2026. So far, not counting what we have been receiving since midnight, my rain gage has measured 12.945" of rain in June. The first 6-7" were welcomed. Not so much what we've received since last Monday (the 22nd). In my neighborhood, whenever we get a concentrated dose of 6" of rain, it leads to flooding.

June 26, 2026, 3:37am: I was startled from a deep sleep state by a noise. Considering what COVID-19 did to my hearing in 2023, that took a lot of noise. It took me a moment or three to figure out that the noise had come from my iPhone that was charging on a nearby chest of drawers. It was giving me a severe weather/flash flooding alert message. [Please don't ask who sent it to me. At one time, such alerts had been sent me by the county emergency manager's office. Now, I suspect it comes from Apple or from Verizon. I cannot tell by examining the message.]

Quickly, I went to the window to look out on the back side of the house, where flows Spring Creek. As it was dark, I flipped on the floodlights that are mounted under the eaves of the house. Ooh...it was still dark...but it looked darker at a middle distance than at a near distance. From years of experience, I knew that the middle-to-far distance darkness was water.

Keeping one eye on the back yard, I quickly dressed in yesterday's clothing, then packed my car for evacuation: boots, changes of clothing, prescription medications, water, fruit, cash, check books, binoculars, flash drives, hearing aids & phone - with chargers - et cetera. I opened the garage door (if we lost power, I did not want to have to wrestle the door with the car sitting there in my way). 

At that point, I took the time to consider the neighbors. No interior lights betrayed that any of them might be awake. I considered texting next door, but I knew that they do not get the near approach of water that my yards get so I left them in peace. I checked the TV. Nothing helpful.

It dawned on me to take a photo before I left the house. The floodlights did not provide enough light nor did the flash, but the photo - snapped from the sliding door to the patio - gives the idea.

2026-6-26 -503am - Flood Rising

I drove around the loop made by the streets in my neighborhood to check out how the flooding was impacting available escape routes. Everything was clear. I drove around town, then up to Boeing, to see how the main roads were faring. All clear.

Dawn was struggling through the clouds to the east, so I headed home to get a good look at the advancing water. It has advanced to within 20' of the patio (which is, itself, another 20' from the house).

2026-6-26 605am - Flood Peaking 

Thirty minutes later, I could see that the flood was no longer advancing but receding.

2026-6-26 629am - Flood Receding*

It turned out better than I had expected. What I had failed to tell you, up top, was that Wichita (nearest boundary 6-7 miles from my house) was experiencing flash flooding of its roads before I had gone to bed. There was a string of rainstorms moving in, with radar-measured rain rates of from 3"/hour to over 6"/hour.

2026-6-25 1138pm - Train of Storms & 6 cars submerged

(Blue Circles indicate submerged cars)

Lilac shows my location - Storms moving east-southeast

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* Having taken a lot of photos during the past few days, I had not recognized that my attempt to use the panoramic feature of my iPhone camera had actually succeeded. The way it showed up among the photos did not distinguish it enough for me to recognize the difference. Hey! It worked. I'll try to remember to use that feature in future endeavors.