CSW WEATHER: Severe Storm Watch Until 2 A.M.- KS-MO

Metro Kansas City and the southern portions of the MetroRegion are under the gun tonight into early morning for a chance of more severe thunderstorms.

Severe storms caused widespread tree and power line damage across the Metro Southland early Saturday morning- as told on this earlier CSW post.

Tonight's watch covers that area of Kansas and Missouri generally along and south of Interstate 70- those Metro counties north of the rivers are NOT included.


Pleasanton and Linn county KS IS included in Severe Thunderstorm Watch No. 506 until 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

As we did last night/early this morning- CSW will let you know who got what ....

Missouri River Flood of 2011- Upper Missouri Reservoir Readings for June 18

Here are today's readings on selected Missouri River basin reservoirs from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).




The first 6 projects on the list graphic (click on it for full size) are the USACE dams and reservoirs- referred to here as the "Pick-Sloan" dams on the river in the Dakotas and Montana.

The key to the project parameters listed can be found on this previous CSW post on daily USACE project readings.

Motorcyclist Dies in East-Midtown KC-MO Crash

A male motorcycle driver died at a Metro hospital early Saturday.

Police- fire and EMS reports say the man was going south on Indiana at 35th Street when he crashed into the side of a car containing a female driver.

After fire and EMS units arrived on the scene of the  12:30 a.m. call- a "disturbance" was reported.


Emergency crews then started performing CPR on the apparently obvious DOA cyclist "who was going about 40 m.p.h-" loaded him into an ambulance- and whisked him to a city medical trauma center where he was officially pronounced dead.


The female driver of the car had non life-threatening hurts and was taken to another hospital.

Unknown yet whom was to blame for the fatal crash.

CSW Weather: Some Metro Kansas City Rainfall Totals in Past 48-Hours

The following rainfall map graphics are courtesy of the Overland Park KS "Stormwatch" Web site...


The period is 48 hours prior to 6 a.m. Saturday morning- June 18...

Metro KC-MO Northland-Central graphic (click on image for full size):

Metro KC-MO Southland-CentralJoCoKS:





Additional heavy rainfalls are possible over portions of the Central States through at least Tuesday.

Here are the 5-Day rainfall forecasts for the U.S.A.- as well as forecasts of possible "excessive" rainfalls for the next 3 days.


Areas of forecasted risks of excessive rains over the next 3 days include many portions of the flooding Missouri River basin..

CSW BREAKING: Severe Storms With High Winds Bring Down trees- Power Lines

Winds of near hurricane force blew though Metro Kansas City- mostly of the southern portions- early Saturday morning.

As of 3 a.m.- around 40000 customers of the K.C. Power & Light (KCP&L) were without electricity.


The most severe damage sounded to be in South-Midtown and south KC-MO- Grandview- Belton- Raymore and Harrisionville MO- where there was the report of at least one building damaged.



At least 4 house fires- in Overland Park- Grandview- Raymore and KC-MO were attributed to the storm.

No injuries were reported.

In Paola KS- a tree reportedly fell into a house at "9 Brookside Drive" with at least one occupant of the house reported "trapped" at 1:27 a.m..

There was no word on injuries there.

Thunderstorms continue this morning from central Kansas into central Missouri- where a severe thunderstorm watch is in effect until after dawn.

There are additional severe storm chances later today- Monday into Tuesday across Metro and MetroRegion Kansas City- according to the NWS' Storm Prediction Center in Norman Oklahoma.

CSW BREAKING: Severe Storms Enter Metro Kansas City Area

A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is in effect until 1 a.m. this Saturday morning for Johnson - Wyandotte and southern Leavenworth counties KS..
 

High winds of 60-70 m.p.h are possible with this storm.

CSW WEATHER" Severe Storm Watch Continues Until 3 a.m. Saturday

Severe Thunderstorm Watch No. 497 includes Metro Kansas City- St. Joseph- Lawrence- Topeka and points west until 3 a.m..

This watch is generally south of U.S. 36 and west of U.S. 63 in Missouri westward across Kansas.

Thus far- the severe weather closest to Metro Kansas City is about 100 miles southwest- and that shows indications of moving just south of east.


There are a few scattered storms about 50 miles southwest and east of Kansas City.

Any severe weather damage will be reported here at CSW....

Heavy Rains in North Dakota Could Mean More Water Released to Flooded Missouri

In addition to the myriad things that I watch these days are the rainfalls in the upper Missouri River basin...


Heavy rains have fallen over generally isolated areas of the Dakotas over the past week to 10 days.

Although local stream levels rose- in some cases to or above flood stage- lack of larger-area heavy rains kept the effects mostly to a minimum in downstream locations.


However- the un-damed part of the Missouri river from it's confluence near St. Louis MO to the Gavin's Point dam near Yankton SD is filling- to full to overflowing.

Two of the 6 'Pick-Sloan' reservoirs are near to above maximum flood control pools- and today's readings still showed more water coming into them that what is coming out- which ranges from about 140000 to 151000 cubic feet per second.


The exception is the largest of the 6 Pick-Sloan projects- Fort Peck dam in eastern Montana- whose releases are only around 65000 cfs- but the reservoir behind the dam is more than 2 feet above maximum flood storage.

That leads us to the latest on the Missouri River Flood of 2011:

More heavy rains are forecast for the upper Missouri- specifically in western and northwestern North Dakota.


According to the story in Thursday's BISMARCK (ND) TRIBUNE-  those heavy rains "could push release levels above the planned 150,000 cfs at Garrison and other dams-" according to "a conference call with the Corps" of Engineer (USACE).

Meaning even more dam water in an already flooding river.



(Photos by Ken Yetter. More of Mr. Yetter's photos of flooding in and around Bismarck ND can be found HERE)

Missouri River Flood of 2011- Upper Missouri Reservoir Readings for June 17

Here are today's readings on selected Missouri River basin reservoirs from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

The first 6 projects on the list graphic (click on it for full size) are the USACE dams and reservoirs that this blog refers to as the "Pick-Sloan" dams on the river in the Dakotas and Montana.



The key to the project parameters listed can be found on this previous CSW post on daily USACE project readings.

CSW BREAKING: Bank Robbery Reported in KC-MO Northland

At 9:09 a.m. Friday morning- the KC-MO Police reported an armed bank robbery in the Platte county Northland area of KC-MO..


The robbery occurred at the US Bank at 6161 Northwest Barry Road.

Police reports the suspect as "a black male possible in his 30's- of medium build- approximately 5-foot 11-inches" tall and "wearing a hooded trench coat- a mask- a dark blue bandanna over his face" and was brandishing a possibly fake handgun.


The suspect reportedly "ran" from the bank "toward the Hy-Vee store.


No one was reported hurt.


Police later reported that no money was taken in the holdup.


The would-be robber reportedly came into the lobby of the bank yelling and waving his weapon- but ran out before approaching a teller for his cash..

Three Baxter Springs KS Firefighters Lose Jobs For Looting After Joplin Tornado

Among the more disgusting aspects to life in my experience are public safety representatives who lie and/or steal from victims.


The SPRINGFIELD (MO) NEWS-LEADER has the story of 3 firefighters from Baxter Springs KS who were terminated after it was learned they had allegedly looted property after the Joplin Tornado of May 22.


You don't terminate people over allegations I may add.


The Baxter Springs fire chief was also disciplined- put on "administrative leave" regarding the situation.

Shame- shame- shame!

CSW BREAKING; High-Speed Police Chase of Stolen Truck Ends in Crashes- Arrest

Shortly before 11:30 a.m. Thursday morning- KC-MO Police reported a truck that belonged to a glass company from stolen from a location near the KC-MO downtown loop.


Within 10 minutes- police spotted the stolen truck and started following/chasing (without lights & sirens) it getting on southbound U.S. 71-Bruce Watkins Expressway into the Midtown area.


The chase continued south on U.S. 71 into the Southland- Grandview and into Cass county- where units there DID use lights and sirens.

The thief/driver of the stolen truck started "driving crazy" one officer said- and speeds increased to between 80-90 m.p.h..


At 12:04 p.m.- the stolen truck's tires were deflated by police road spikes.


A minute later- the suspect truck along with a police officer's vehicle- an semi-truck- and at least several cars became involved in a "series" of crashes on southbound U.S. 71 just south of Commercial Street (M-291 north).


The suspect then ran a short distance- before being apprehended by Cass county sheriff deputies and Harrisonville officers.


No serious injuries were reported in the crashes- the officer involved reported he was "not injured."


U.S. 71 is/was shut down at the Commercial Street exit in Harrisonville.

CSW WEATHER: Severe Storm Chance Next 3 Days Over Metro Kansas City- Central States

Metro Kansas City is included in a Storm Prediction Center's forecast of possible severe thunderstorms today- Friday and Saturday.

This forecast area for heavy weather also covers much of the central and northern Central States through Saturday.

Metro Kansas City's greatest severe threat is from possible large hail- damaging storm winds and of course lightning.

I'll keep you updated from the CSW ranch....

Missouri River Flood of 2011- Latest Upper Missouri Reservoir Readings

In what will be become at least a semi-regular feature here on CSW will be daily Missouri River basin U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir readings from the six Pick-Sloan dams located in the Dakotas and Montana.



The first graphic (click on image for full size) is from June 13- showing the reservoir information that morning.

As a key- under 'Project Information' are the capacities of each reservoir referring to the dam/reservoir's elevation above sea level.

MP means the mininum power pool or a normal lake level- FC means flood control of the maximum height the reservoir can hold before water goes over the emergency spillways (called an "uncontrolled release").

Current data shows the reservoirs actual level at the time of observation- acre-feet of the lake's surface- inflow to the lake/reservoir and discharge out the dam's control structures/spillway.

The last figure in each project- probably the figure most telling- is the percentage of flood control capacity left in that particular reservoir/lake.


Check CSW daily for the latest readings or click HERE for the direct USACE report- usually issued around 9 a.m. CDT.


Take good note of the first project listed- Fort Peck dam in eastern Montana- the first and largest reservoir on the upper Missouri's system.

Note the percentage OVER flood control capacity on June 13- then today's reading (June 16).



Bear in mind as well- that the great majority of the above-average snowfall in Fort Peck's basin is still unmelted.

Missouri River Flood of 2011 - Aerial Videos from June 15

The Missouri River Flood of 2011 continues to grow...


The Missouri's floodwaters are approaching the hastily-erected levee designed to protect Hamburg IA..


This new levee will have to hold back water of up to 10 feet above Missouri River flood stages "until August at the earliest" says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.


And that is if more heavy thunderstorms don't further swell an already overflowing river- God forbid any stalling storm systems over these areas for at least the next 60 days.


Yesterday- our great flood-patrolling pilot- "barnesrealty"went flying againwith his HiDef vid cam.


The first video shows the Burlington Northern railroad crews working feverishly to raise the tracks on newly-installed ballast on the mainline in northwestern Missouri.


Other videos show the flood coming up against other new levees built to protect Big Lake as well as thousands of acres of rich Missouri River bottomland planted with crops..