It was one year ago today that a series of violent storms ripped through the region, and the sky dumped between five and seven inches of rain over our listening area.

The subsequent flooding of the Raccoon River and smaller tributaries infiltrated countless basements, washed out dozens of county roads and shut down two state highways in our area, Highway 141 in Guthrie County and Highway 169 in Dallas County.

Additionally, several area campgrounds were flooded as they were preparing for their busy summer season, including Springbrook State Park. Park Manager Carolyn Guttenfelder says the recent replacement of low water crossings at the park will hopefully lessen the effects of future flooding. “Those are well-known to flood during high water events and of course that causes issues in getting campers in and out again. Both of those bridges were replaced and raised, so they can take on more water. Hopefully that will eliminate issues we’ve had in the past with having a flash flood and then worrying about getting people out of the park fast enough.”

Raccoon Valley Radio Network’s Severe Weather Action Team was also busy a year ago during the storms and early flooding, spending several hours live on the air giving out the latest information before finally signing off once the storms weakened shortly after 1:30 a.m.

Whenever severe weather threatens Guthrie, Greene or Dallas counties tune into the Raccoon Valley Radio Network.