Morning Rain Raises Southland Waterways

South Kansas City has two waterways winding their way around the land, making their meandering way to the Missouri River. One is the Blue River. The other is Indian Creek. The additional two inches or so of rain that fell this morning onto saturated soil was enough to have both waterways running fast and at high levels again today.

The Blue River, looking from the bridge. It's much higher, and flowing much faster then normal. Usually, you can see very clearly the channel the water has carved out over the years, but the elevated water level has obscured that feature.

This is a view you would not have seen prior to the work being done in preparation for the new bridge. The river channel was lowered here and the water has taken advantage. In addition, water from the small artificial lake that is behind the photographer is moving into the river. The river is spread much wider then usual. Left in the photo, on the near bridge pillar, is a water gauge.

This is Indian Creek at Watt's Mill. This view, taken from 103rd street, looks east towards the remnants of the old mill. The water is really moving! Where the creek crosses Wornall Road, there is often flooding of the businesses along 103rd street and Wornall.

This view of Indian Creek shows how it is out of its banks, but you can see from the lines of debris, it had been higher earlier in the day.

Here's a view of Indian Creek looking west from the 103rd street bridge. I'd estimate this water was going 50 mph at this point.

We need a day or two to dry out around here! During the rain, there were numerous roadways that developed high water quickly--the classic urban flash flood. There is just no more room in the soil for water. More rain is forecast to fall over the next 36 hours; I would expect more urban creek flooding and flash flooding too. Local readers, please be careful out there!