Heavy rain in northeast Kansas brought localized flooding to areas near Topeka. The hardest hit area was on the far southern end of town where rural county roads were covered by standing water.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS TOP wrote it up.
Heavy rain in northeast Kansas brought localized flooding to areas near Topeka. The hardest hit area was on the far southern end of town where rural county roads were covered by standing water.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 19, 5:30 PM CST, 3 hours 12 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 630 PM CDT WED MAY 19 2010 .UPDATE... UPDATED FOR 00 UTC AVIATION. && .DISCUSSION... SEE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION. && .AVIATION... AREA OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MOVING NORTH THROUGH THE TERMINALS AND WITH UPPER LOW OVER SOUTHWEST KANSAS WILL CONTINUE TO SEE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSRA MOVE NORTH THROUGH THE NIGHT ON EAST SIDE OF THE UPPER LOW. THEREFORE EXPECT MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS ALONG WITH LOWERING CIGS AND VSBYS TO IFR BY 05Z AND CONTINUING INTO THURSDAY AFTERNOON. EXPECT IFR/MVFR CIGS TO GRADUALLY IMPROVE AT MHK AFTER 22Z AS UPPER LOW MOVES EAST. KEPT MENTION OF VCSH THROUGH THE END OF THE PERIOD. WITH UPPER LOW MOVING OVERHEAD THURSDAY AFTERNOON ISOLD TSRA WILL BE COMMON. WINDS CONTINUE EAST THROUGH THE PERIOD. 53 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 407 PM CDT WED MAY 19 2010/ DISCUSSION... LARGE AREA OF PRECIPITATION ASSOCIATED WITH SLOW MOVING UPPER LOW MOVING EASTWARD ACROSS KANSAS. SUBTLE DIFFERENCES IN DEPICTION OF UPPER LOW BETWEEN GFS AND NAM LEAD TO BIG DISCREPANCIES IN PRECIPITATION FORECASTS. GFS PRODUCES SEVERAL RATHER LARGE BULLSEYES OF CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION WHILE NAM GENERALLY HAS A MORE STRATIFORM DEPICTION. SREF MEAN PRECIP INDICATES MOST PRECIPITATION EXITING THIS FORECAST AREA BY TOMORROW AFTERNOON. SOME MEMBERS OF THE SREF HAVE WELL OVER 0.5 INCHES ACROSS NORTHEASTERN KS. FLOOD WATCH IS IN PLACE IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS FOR A POTENTIAL PROLONGED PRECIPITATION EVENT. ONLY LOW TO MODERATE CONFIDENCE IN ACTUALLY SEEING ENOUGH PRECIPITATION TO PRODUCE RIVER FLOODING. MODEL SOUNDINGS ARE SHOWING LITTLE IF ANY ELEVATED INSTABILITY...ALTHOUGH COOL POCKET ALOFT ASSOCIATED WITH UPPER LOW MAY BE ENOUGH TO INDUCE A ISOLATED ELEVATED THUNDERSTORM. TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN MILD TONIGHT WITH COPIOUS CLOUD COVER AND SATURATED AIRMASS. EXPECT GRADUAL WARMING TOMORROW AS CLOUDS WILL BEGIN TO THIN IN WAKE OF UPPER LOW AS IT MOVES OUT OF KANSAS BY LATE THURSDAY. THINGS BEGIN TO DRY OUT ON FRIDAY AS UPPER LOW EXITS INTO THE GREAT LAKES AND SUBSIDENCE BEHIND IT RESULTS IN PARTIAL CLEARING FROM WEST TO EAST. UPPER TROUGH THEN DIGS INTO THE SWRN U.S. OVER THE WEEKEND WITH UPPER RIDGE BUILDING TO THE EAST RESULTING IN A HIGHLY AMPLIFIED UPPER FLOW. THIS SHOULD LEAD TO A DRY WEEKEND FOR THE AREA AND WARMING TEMPERATURES WITH HIGHS MAKING IN THE MID TO UPPER 80S. FOR MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...DETERMINISTIC GFS AND ECMWF RUNS LIFT A SHORTWAVE TROUGH INTO THE NORTHERN PLAINS/UPPER MIDWEST ON MONDAY WITH TRAILING FRONT HELPING TO DEVELOP PRECIP INTO CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NW KS. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO STAY NW OF CWA MONDAY AS EASTWARD MOTION SHOULD BE MINIMAL WITH MERIDIONAL UPPER FLOW AND CAP IN PLACE TO THE EAST. ECMWF HAS STRONGER FLOW/UPPER TROUGH AXIS A LITTLE FARTHER EAST THAN GFS FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY AND DEVELOPS NOCTURNAL CONVECTION THAT APPEARS TO PROPAGATE/DEVELOP SWD INTO NC KS INTO LOW-LEVEL JET. WHILE CONFIDENCE IS NOT HIGH IN THIS SCENARIO...ALL MEMBERS OF 00Z ENSEMBLE MOS ALSO INDICATES SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK...SO HAVE ADDED THIS TO MAINLY NC KS. TEMPERATURES FOR MON THROUGH WED SHOULD REMAIN WELL ABOVE SEASONAL NORMS WITH PERSISTENT SOUTHERLY LOW-LEVEL FLOW. HIGHS SHOULD BE MOSTLY 80S AND LOWS IN THE MID TO UPPER 60S. && .TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 7 PM THURSDAY FOR KSZ040-KSZ054-KSZ055-KSZ056- KSZ058-KSZ059. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 901 PM CDT WED MAY 19 2010 KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-210215- REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY- POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS- WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON- 901 PM CDT WED MAY 19 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SCATTERED ACROSS THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREA THURSDAY...AND IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS THURSDAY EVENING. A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CANNOT BE RULED OUT IN MAINLY EAST CENTRAL KANSAS IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. RIVERS AND CREEKS IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS COULD SEE SIGNIFICANT RISES THURSDAY...AND A FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES RETURN TO PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS MONDAY AND SPREAD SOUTHEAST INTO PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL KANSAS BY TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTERS SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A sheriff's deputy reported that the intersection of 101st and Burlingame Road is impassible due to flooding.
An emergency manager reported 109th Street was closed due to flooding.
Morrill Road from 77th North to Montara Parkway has water over the road in two areas.
Shunganunga Creek was out of its banks on the walking path at 29th and Gage Boulevard due to heavy rainfall.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, May 2010
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 234486, 234499, 234512, 234519.