By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
A line of storms with high winds was predicted to move across Kansas in the final hours leading into the Fourth of July holiday Thursday. Even so, the images displayed on radar were not particularly threatening around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Wilson Lake. Chase resident Mackenzie Oberle and family were staying in the Wheatgrass Campground in the Hell Creek area of the lake. Just as the storm arrived, she moved from her parents' camper to a truck just a few feet away.
"It felt like the wind had come up underneath the truck and picked it up," she said. "Something loud hit what I thought was the truck, but it hit the boat. I didn't think anything of it but I looked back and I could see my parents' camper flipped over sideways so I got out and called 911."
Oberle, who has ridden out other storms from inside a camper, said nothing seemed unusual about the storm as it came in. Winds estimated at 70 miles an hour hit the area just as the rain began. Several campers from the packed campgrounds were damaged. One camper near Oberle's truck was blown across the road and completely destroyed. Fortunately, its occupants were able to walk away.
"There wasn't a rhyme or reason why some blew over and some didn't," Oberle said. "There were tiny campers that didn't blow over, and there big, heavy campers that did blow over."
Oberle's parents were able to crawl out of their camper without injury. Three people were transported by Russell County EMS to Russell Regional Hospital with injuries. Christopher Montoya, 64, of Holyrood, was found deceased in the Hell Creek Area of the park.
The storm gained strength as it approached Russell late Wednesday, prompting the National Weather Service out of Wichita to issue a Severe Thunderstorm Warning shortly before 11:30 p.m. More warnings were later issued for Ellsworth and Rice counties. Torrential rain fell in a short period with more than an inch recorded in Great Bend, 2.06 inches reported in one location near Larned, and up to 1.90 inches reported near Little River. Most locations near Lawrence later reported more than two inches of rain. Most wind reports out of Ellsworth and Russell counties indicate gusts between 68 and 70 mph. Saline County reported the highest gust at 82 mph.