KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers Kansas City, Missouri. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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This month has been busy with several thunderstorms, tornadoes and severe weather alerts.
KSHB 41 Kansas City reporter Alyssa Jackson asked drivers in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, how their commutes have been impacted.
"I saw several people pulled over. No AAA ... trucks just stuck in the water," said driver Jamaica Matthies.
Flooding created a messy commute along Interstate 70 in downtown KCMO on Monday morning.
Nahni Shaw said flood waters were also high under several bridges in the Historic Northeast.
"Definitely worse than I’ve seen in a while," Shaw said. "Some spots were completely unreachable."
There are areas of the Kansas City metro that are more prone to flooding than others. Lately, it's I-70 and Broadway. The highway has been flooded three times this month.
"When you get that much water running off, it tends to get more than what some of the systems can take on, especially if there's any debris in there," said Greg Bolon, district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation.
Bolon told Jackson it can also be attributed to “flash events," when rain totals are much higher than normal.
"We’re about six inches of rain higher than normal for this time of year and 10 inches of rain in April alone," Bolon said. "When you get that much rain, the ground is very saturated. And so last night, we got in the neighborhood of 3.6” of rain, and because of the rain we got on Friday, the ground was already saturated. Add another 3.6" of water, and the ground can't absorb it, so it all becomes runoff water."
The Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department reported 11 water rescues from all over the city on Monday.
Since storm season is active, MoDOT reminds drivers to turn around and not to try to drive through floodwaters. You can alert MoDOT to flooded roadways by calling 1-888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636).
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