The aftermath; what happened in Drexel

In what has been an incredibly active and wet pattern during the past two weeks, according to the National Weather Service, yet another round of severe thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall and wind damage to the area. Late last Monday afternoon, large supercell thunderstorms developed across portions of central Kansas and began to lift northeastward towards eastern Kansas and
western Missouri. As these storms moved east, they began to merge into a large cluster of storms called a “Mesoscale Convective System” or MCS. These storms were able to interact with a highly unstable
environment south of a warm front which was stalled from the northeast corner of Kansas to the southeast corner of
Missouri. Favorable conditions were present for the development of bowing segments with the potential for damaging winds as these storms moved eastward. Two such bowing segments reached eastern Kansas and western Missouri around 10:00 p.m. Monday, with radar velocity signatures from Franklin and
Anderson counties (estimates on how strong the winds aloft are) showing in excess of 104 knots! These incredibly strong winds transferred down to the surface in locations from Beagle to Fontana and further east towards Drexel and Adrian as these storms moved through after 11:00 p.m. A National Weather Service storm survey team reported that widespread tree and isolated structure damage was present across much of
southern Miami, southern Cass, northern Linn, and northern Bates counties with estimated wind speeds between 90 and 110 mph! While these storms were not tornadic in nature, these strong wind speeds correlate comparably to the strength of an EF-1 rated tornado.
All in all, the powerful storm knocked out power to an estimated..........
Read the complete story in the June 25th edition.
PHOTO: Drexel’s Boy Scout Troop 241 spent last Thursday afternoon cleaning up the debris at Sharon Cemetery following last Monday night’s wind storm. The old cedars at the cemetery suffered extensive
damage and their broken branches covered the ground. The boys filled the trailer many times before the job was completed. Those working were: Elisha Phillips, Dalton Ford, Justin Frazee, Michael Rose, Darryll Irby and Scott Phillips, Assistant Scout Master.