Kansas City area hit by floods after three days of downpour

[August 29, 2016]  (Reuters) - The Kansas City area was flooded late Friday after a three-day downpour, forcing emergency services to conduct about 10 water rescues in Missouri's largest city, officials said.

News photos showed vehicles stopped or abandoned as flood waters swelled across streets. No injuries nor fatalities were reported.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency notice to the Kansas City area for the first time ever on Friday night that went into Saturday morning.

The flooding had receded within the urban center later on Saturday, but rivers in more rural regions north of the city were still overflowing, said Dan Hawblitzel, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Kansas City.

Rains and some thunderstorms were forecast in parts of the region on Saturday, but were not expected to cause further flooding, Hawblitzel said.

Widespread precipitation in the region had brought anywhere from 3 to 8 inches of rainfall to the city since Wednesday, causing waterways in the region including the Missouri River to overflow, Hawblitzel said.

"Some parts of the city received more rain last night than they had seen all summer long," he said in a phone interview, noting it was the first time the weather service had issued a flash flood emergency for the region since it began such notices in the past decade.
 

Kansas City's Fire Chief Paul Berardi posted the emergency warning on Twitter late Friday, adding the department was conducting water rescues in three parts of the city.

A spokeswoman for the Johnson County Emergency Management office on Saturday said they had received reports of approximately 10 water rescues and had no reports of injuries or fatalities.

(Reporting by Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Bernard Orr)

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