On the morning of July 11th, a small complex of thunderstorms moved southeast from Nebraska, and down the Missouri River into far eastern Kansas and western Missouri. These thunderstorms created an outflow boundary on the western flank of the precipitation shield. This outflow boundary, combined with southwest winds just off the surface, became the focus for lift. The airmass across southern Kansas during the mid morning hours became very warm and unstable, which helped feed deep thunderstorm development over the Kansas City metropolitan area and points east. Rainfall rates were in excess of 2 inches per hour, with rainfall totals in the Kansas City area, ranging from 1 to 5 inches. This created urban flooding in some of the typical areas, such as Southwest Boulevard, Westport Avenue, and portions of the Plaza area. This rainfall created minor flooding on some area rivers and streams.
In addition to the heavy rainfall experienced, one thunderstorm over the south Kansas City area, intensified extremely fast. In a matter of 10 to 15 minutes, a strong core of rain and hail was lifted to between 30,000 and 40,000 ft high in the atmosphere, and just as quickly collapsed over the Hickman Mills and Ruskin Heights area of south Kansas City. Extensive tree damage was reported in a couple square mile area, with an estimated 1000 trees damaged or destroyed. Trees and trees limbs falling on power lines created extensive power outages, with around 29,000 residents without power after the height of the storm.