Torrential rain is causing more flooding in southern Sedgwick County, including the city of Mulvane. This is the second time in less than three weeks that the town of about 7,000 has flooded.
The Styx Creek in downtown Mulvane left its banks early Friday following storms with heavy rain, and receded about four hours later. The National Weather Service Office in Wichita says the Arkansas River at Mulvane is also out of its banks and expected to reach a record level of 21 feet tonight.
The NWS says about three to 10 inches of rain fell overnight in southeast Sedgwick County.
Meteorologist Chance Hayes says several roads are under water, and that’s causing significant issues with travel.
"Many of those roads are rural and not paved, and there’s a lot of low water crossings so we are going to have issues with all of those," he says. "So travel across this region is going to be pretty treacherous for the next couple of days."
Mulvane schools were closed Friday due to high water, flooding and impassable roads. There were reports of cars submerged and water rescues this morning.
Hayes says there’s flooding in the cities of Clearwater and Haysville, as well as parts of Sumner and Cowley counties.
From 7 p.m. Thursday evening through 7 a.m. Friday morning, Sedgwick County says efforts related to the weather included:
Providing sandbags as requested by cities.
- Responding to 19 submersion calls. A submersion call is when a person is trapped in the vehicle and cannot get out without assistance.
- Responding to 64 flood reports.
- Reporting five house fires.
- Closing 10 roads due to flooding.
Mulvane is still recovering from a flash flood that came during the Aug. 20 weekend and caused more than $1 million in damage. At least 57 residential structures and about five commercial buildings were damaged during that flooding, which prompted the Sedgwick County Commission to declare a state of disaster emergency.
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