Historic Events - 1940 to 1960
June 8, 1941 – An F4 tornado formed seven miles SW of Maize and moved NE for 42 miles before dissipating five miles West of Burns. At least five homes were destroyed and dozens of farms were damaged causing $200,000 in damages. One death was reported near Valley Center and seven others near Whitewater. There were also 20 injuries reported for this event.
June 20, 1942 – A strong tornado moved in a semi-circular path around the city of Mulvane.
November 18, 1943 – Wichita Firefighters Keith Fulton and Clint Grovsener lost their lives when they were electrocuted while fighting a fire at Third and Topeka Streets.
April 6, 1944 – Wichita Chief Fire Inspector Gail S. Braden lost his life when he was shot while making a fire inspection.
April 21-23, 1944 – The year 1944 was one of generally above-normal precipitation in the lower Arkansas River Basin. The most severe flood of that year occurred at Wichita and downstream to Arkansas City as a result of rains on April 21 to 23. On April 22, Wichita received 6.03 inches of rain, Newton 2.47 inches, Hutchinson, 3.05 inches, and Wellington 3.38 inches. The merging of the flows from the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers in Wichita almost reached Douglas Avenue and resulted in the flooding of about 2,000 homes and businesses in the city. Flooding in Wichita was 2.7 feet above the flood stage of nine feet. Damages for Sedgwick County were estimated at nearly $5 million. At about the same time as the Wichita flood the Walnut River at Winfield rose close to a record-breaking stage, with great overflows of Timber and Dutch Creeks, covering much of the city with water and resulting in damage estimated at $2,000,000. Flood stages at Arkansas City approached those of the 1923 flood.
March 18, 1948 – An F2 tornado touched down ESE of Wichita in the Beechwood area and tracked one mile before dissipating. Federal housing project homes sustained roof damages valued at approximately $100,000. The Beech Aircraft Company reported $100,000 in damages to hangars and airplanes. There were a total of two injuries from this event.
April 3, 1948 – Tremors were felt in the area of Beechwood five miles east of Wichita) and in Wichita at 3AM and again between 9PM and 10PM with a total of six tremors. Reports of ripples in goldfish bowls to be caused and houses trembling were provided. The shocks were measured at four on the Modified Mercalli Scale.
May 1,
1948 – An F2 tornado traveled over a 40-mile track starting NE of Andale to
south of Newton and ending near Peabody. Over $50,000 in damages occurred on ten
farms and resulted in the destruction of barns and other buildings.
June 21, 1948 – An F4 tornado touched down seven miles SW of Wichita and moved NE through the NW part of the city. Two farms were destroyed, and over $1,000,000 in damages to businesses and to aircraft based at Westport airport. There were a total of 12 injuries caused by this event.
June 25, 1950, 1845 CST – An F0 tornado with a width of 33 yards touched down for a brief period causing approximately $2,500 in property damage.
May-July, 1951 – The highest stages along the Arkansas River during 1951 occurred near Coolidge and at Garden City as the result of an intense storm on May 15, 1951. In the Wichita area, Big Slough and Little Slough experienced flooding in July 1951. Annual precipitation in 1951 was 50.48”, which is the highest annual precipitation on record for Wichita. Flood-damage estimates compiled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the May-July 1951 flooding total $2,868,000 along the main stem of the Arkansas River.
Flood Control Project: nbsp; The floodway (aka Big Ditch) was authorized by Congress under the Flood Control Act (approved 22 June 1936), Public Law 738, HR 8455; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Project Document HD 308 “Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project.” Work was initiated by the USACE on May 8, 1950 and completed in March 1959, costing approximately $20 million and consisting of a protected area covering about 47,000 acres or about 73.4 square miles. The protected area consists of urban and rural lands, in and adjacent to the cities of Valley Center and Wichita, Kansas, against floods from the Little Arkansas River; Arkansas River; Big Slough; Cowskin Creek; and Chisholm Creek and its west, middle, and east branch tributaries. The project consisted of 97.3 miles of levees, 40.2 miles of toe drains with 68 relief wells, 40.9 miles of channels, 72 drainage structures through levees, and five (5) major pump stations. Runoff from the intercepted areas is contained in areas reserved for ponding. There are 32 major interior ponding areas that provide storage for the proper operation of the project. The required storage is based on a once in 25-year storm frequency, which is considered to furnish a reasonable degree of protection. The Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project also has a companion project, the West Branch Chisholm Creek Local Flood Protection Project. The flows of Chisholm Creek and its middle and west branch tributaries are collected by a system of levees and channels beginning about nine miles north of the Wichita and are diverted into the Arkansas River 2 miles northwest of Wichita. The combined flows of Chisholm Creek, the Little Arkansas River, and the Arkansas River, in excess of existing channel capacities, are diverted to the west of the city of Wichita by a leveed floodway. From there, the flows are diverted to the Arkansas River at a point south of Wichita by improved channels, levees, and canals along Big Slough and Cowskin Creek. Flood flows of the east branch of Chisholm Creek are diverted into the Wichita drainage canal, which extends through the eastern portion of the city of Wichita and confluences with the Arkansas River south of the city. The average height of the levees and the average depth of the channels are 9.5 feet. Although the USACE owns the floodway, there is 6,400 acres of land maintained annually by the City of Wichita Public Works Storm Water Utility and jointly funded by the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County. The USACE conducts annual visual inspections of the levees and provides its findings to the City of Wichita. Since construction of the floodway, the USACE estimates the project has prevented about $247 million in flood damages.
April 9, 1952 – A damaging Richter 5.5 earthquake centered near El Reno, Oklahoma affected a total area of 140,000 square miles, including Wichita. Tremors were felt in Wichita around 4:29PM measuring at four on the Modified Mercalli Scale.
June 21,
1953, 2125 CST – An F2 tornado touched down for a brief period and caused three
injuries.
July 15,
1953, 1408 CST – An F0 touched down for a brief period causing approximately
$250,000 in property damages.
April 29, 1954, 1915 CST – An F0 touched down for a brief period with no reported property damages losses.
September 9, 1954, 0200 CST – An F2 touched down for a brief period with no reported property damages losses.
October 4, 1954, 1800 CST – An F2 touched down for a brief period causing approximately $25,000 in property damages.
May 27, 1955, 2115 CST – An F0 touched down for a brief period with no reported property damages losses.
May 27, 1955, 2115 CST – Another F0 touched down for a brief period with no reported property damages losses.
May 30, 1956, 2045 CST – An F0 touched down for a brief period with no reported property damages losses.
July 1, 1956, 1725 CST – An F2 tornado briefly touched down and destroyed barns three miles NE of Andale and resulted in $25,000 in damages.
May 16–17, 1957 – Frequent precipitation after April 30 and high soil moisture content set the stage for flooding on May 16–17, 1957, in the Arkansas River Basin in south-central Kansas. The State Highway Commission (now the Kansas Department of Transportation) reported 45 road closures in the area, and extensive crop damage was left behind by floodwaters. In the Wichita area, the newly completed Big Slough-Cowskin floodway successively diverted one-third of the peak flow around the Arkansas River at Wichita gage and prevented more serious flooding in the city.
June 21,
1957, 2209 CST – An F0 tornado with a width of 100 yards touched down and
tracked for two miles resulting in approximately $2,500 in property damages.
June 7, 1958, 0600 CST – An F3 tornado with a width of 1,760 yards traveled five miles and destroyed three barns at the extreme edge of SE Wichita causing one injury and approximately $25,000 in property damage.
June 11, 1958, 2315 CST – An F2 tornado struck Wichita, damaged 50 homes in an eight block area on the north side of the city, caused six injuries, and approximately $250,000 in property damage.
July – August 1958: Known as the Dockum Sit-In, a three-week sit-in protest occurred at Broadway and Douglas in Wichita at the Dockum drug store (Rexall Drugstore) lunch counter when two dozen young black students protested local racial segregation laws by banding together to demand service. This action resulted in the first successful student led sit-in of the Civil Rights Movement and lasted a month before the students were finally served at the counter.
May 4, 1959, 1833 CST – An F0 tornado down for a brief period with no reported property damage losses.
May 4, 1959, 1905 CST – An F0 tornado down for a brief period with no reported property damage losses.
May 4, 1959, 1905 CST – Another F0 tornado down for a brief period with no reported property damage losses.
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