Rain soaks county during holiday weekend
Staff reporter
Traditionally Memorial Day weekend is the inaugural weekend of summer.
Picnics, camping, family gatherings, motorcycle riding, and other outdoor activities are planned and enjoyed.
This past weekend will be one that some will remember because of the weather — which wasn't fair.
Torrential rains measuring more than five inches in some areas, sharp lightning, wind, hail, and even tornadoes were a part of the weekend weather causing campers to seek safe refuge and residents to go to their basements.
It began Friday night when lightning and thunderstorms moved across the county, dumping one to two inches of rain.
The weather on Saturday was rainy and cloudy.
Sunday evening two funnel clouds were spotted by Marion Reservoir and moving southeast, causing tornado sirens to be sounded in Marion. Fortunately the funnels disappeared and the dark, ominous-looking clouds drifted on through but not until more than an inch of rain fell in the area.
Another three inches or more of rain was reported in the county Monday night and Tuesday morning, causing flooding in the usual and not so usual places.
Flooding was reported on numerous county roads Tuesday morning with some showers still in the forecast.
There's supposed to be a break in the weather during the week with no rain in the forecast until Friday but who knows about Kansas in the spring.
