Historic Events - 1960 to 1980
April 28, 1960, 1930 CST – An F3 tornado with a width of 440 yards touched down two miles SW of St. Mark, traveling NE over a seven-mile track, and ending two miles east of Colwich. Damages included houses and a church, caused six injuries from flying glass, and approximately $25,000 in property damage.
July 12, 1960, 1705 CST – An F1 tornado down for a brief period with only $300 in reported property damage losses.
August 28, 1960, 1944 CST – An F1 tornado down for a brief period with only $2,500 in reported property damage losses.
November 27, 1960 – An F2 tornado touched down three miles NE of Mulvane and proceeded to within one mile south of Augusta causing destruction to barns and shifting one home. Two injuries were reported from an overturned car.
October 26, 1962 – Wichita Police Officer David A. Kenyon and Officer Dando were attempting to settle a domestic disturbance between a husband and wife for over an hour at a private residence in the 900 block of North Rutan Street. Once things settled down the husband had agreed to leave, then suddenly pulled a gun on them. The male subject agreed to leave the home and went to his room to obtain clothing. He emerged from the room with a .38 caliber handgun and yelled at the officers to leave. The man's wife grabbed their daughter and fled towards the door. As Patrolman Kenyon provided cover for the woman and girl the man opened fire, striking Kenyon in the head killing him. The suspect was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 5 to 21 years in prison on April 29, 1963. Patrolman Kenyon was survived by his expectant wife and two children.
May 25, 1963, 1830 CST – An F0 tornado down for a brief period with only $2,500 in reported property damage losses.
April 3, 1964, 1620 CST – An F2 tornado down for a brief period with no reported property damage losses.
January 16, 1965 – Classified as the worst non-natural disaster to occur in the State of Kansas, a KC-135 took off from the Boeing Company airstrip at 9:28AM Saturday morning, “swerved off course, dipped downward into a residential area in northeast Wichita” at 9:31AM. The exact location of impact was the intersection of Piatt and 21st Street North. A total of 23 civilians and 7 air crewmen were killed in the crash, and at least 18 others injured. A total of 65 houses were, 11 were destroyed resulting in approximately $200,000 in property loss. An estimated 1.5 million gallons of water was used to extinguish the flames. A total of 480 individuals from Wichita and Sedgwick County Fire and law enforcement, Civil Defense, Boeing responded to the scene with 26 vehicles. Cause of the crash was deemed a parachute inside one of the KC-135’s left engines. The tanker contained over 270,000 pounds of jet fuel prior to impact.
May 13, 1965, 2130 CST – An F3 tornado with a width of 100 yards was reported eight miles SSW of Wellington and continued on a 31 mile track northward to the west edge of Wichita. Barns were destroyed, cattle were killed, and 10 injuries from a mobile home park near Wellington were reported. Property damage was estimated at $250,000.
June 2, 1965 – Wichita Firefighter Gary Lee Barrow lost his life from an explosion and fire at the Red Bud Supermarket at Grove and 21st Street.
June
17–25, 1965 – Severe
flooding occurred along the Arkansas River upstream from Great Bend as a result
of storms in the foothills and plains east of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado
and New Mexico. Because the main storm did not directly affect Kansas, local
flooding was minimal, but the Arkansas River overflowed from the western State
line downstream to Great Bend. Flow in the Arkansas River peaked near the
Colorado-Kansas State line on June 17. The peak discharges recorded at all
gauging stations on the Arkansas River and upstream from Great Bend were larger
than any previously recorded and had recurrence intervals greater than 50 years.
As the crest of the flood progressed downstream to its junction with the Little
Arkansas River on June 25, the peak discharge had decreased to a magnitude
having a recurrence interval less than 10 years. Although inundation of the
flood plain caused considerable damage to urban areas, such as Garden City and
September 3, 1965, 2000 CST – An F3 tornado traveling NE skipped for 0.5 mile on the east side of Wichita shifting homes off foundations and causing 27 injuries. Property damage was estimated at $2.5 million.
September 20, 1965, 1822 CST – An F2 tornado with a width of 33 yards traveling NNE skipped over a 44 mile track starting two miles south of McConnell Air Force Base and continued NNW of Burns before terminating SSW of Florence. One home was unroofed and planes were destroyed at the base; however, most damages were caused by F1 intensity at losses of approximately $25,000.
September 20, 1965, 1934 CST – An F0 tornado with a width of 33 yards touched down for a brief period, tracking one mile, with no reported property damage losses.
November 9, 1968 – Tremors were felt in Wichita around 5:01PM measuring at four on the Modified Mercalli Scale. The earthquake, centered in southern Illinois, was felt moderately throughout the eastern portion of Kansas. All or parts of 23 states were affected by this magnitude 5.3 shock
November 21, 1968 – Wichita Fire Chief Thomas A. McGaughey, Chief Fire Inspector Merle O. Wells, Firefighter Jimmy L. Austin, and Firefighter Dale J. Mishler all lost their lives when a ceiling collapsed at the Yingling Chevrolet fire at English and Topeka Streets.
June 23, 1969, 1600 CST – An F4 tornado with a width of 700 yards and tracked nine miles. It started SW of Goddard, moved eastward and then SE progressing to F4 strength and dissipating to a weak F0 tornado five miles SW of the Wichita Airport. Several farm homes were severely damaged or destroyed resulting in approximately $250,000 in property damages with six injuries reported.
June 2, 1971, 1115 CST – An F0 tornado with a width of 233 yards touched down for a brief period with only $300 in reported property damage losses.
June 13, 1973 – Sedgwick County Firefighter Gerald “Gude” Lloyd died from injuries sustained from a motor vehicle accident while responding to a house fire.
May 26, 1973, 1425 CST – An F1 tornado with a width of 100 yards touched down at Cheney Reservoir and tracked for four miles. Damages included uprooting trees on shore, and striking a boat that killed three occupants.
May 26, 1973, 1515 CST – An F3 tornado with a width of 400 yards touched down north of Goddard and proceeded NE for four miles. Damages included three homes destroyed, damaged six other homes, and destroying a bridge with an estimate loss of approximately $250,000. One injury was reported during this event.
September–October 1973 – Significant flooding occurred in September and October 1973 in south-central Kansas. The flood was the result of abundant precipitation that continued for several weeks. Two USGS streamflow-gauging stations on Rattlesnake Creek recorded maximum stages and discharges for their respective periods of record on September 26 and 29, as did the gauging station on the Arkansas River near Hutchinson on September 28.
October 11, 1973, 1630 CST – An F2 tornado with a width of 200 yards and tracking one mile touched down. Losses of approximately $250,000 were reported from 25 trailers damaged or destroyed in the SE part of Wichita. There were 15 injuries reported.
October 25, 1973, 0200 CST – An F1 tornado with a width of 100 yards touched down briefly and resulted in approximately $25,000 in property damages.
May 13, 1974, 2200 CST – An F0 tornado with a width of 27 yards tracked 40 miles and resulted in approximately $2,500 in property damages.
August 23, 1974, 1004 CST – An F1 tornado with a width of 20 yards touched down briefly and with no reported property damages.
October 31, 1974 – Sedgwick County Sheriff Detective Roy Vance Johnson was shot and killed while attempting to apprehend an escaped prisoner who had shot and wounded a Wichita detective. Two other deputies were also shot and wounded during the arrest. The suspect escaped the scene but was eventually caught and sentenced to life in prison. Detective Johnson had been with the agency for three years and was survived by his wife and children.
May 9, 1976 – Derby Police Detective Charles Delbert Meeks succumbed to injuries sustained four days earlier when his vehicle collided head-on by another vehicle during a heavy rain storm. The other vehicle crossed the center line and collided with Detective Meeks' vehicle. Detective Meeks was en route to a Kansas Peace Officers Association conference when the accident occurred. His wife, who was accompanying him to the conference, was seriously injured in the accident. Detective Meeks had served with the Derby Police Department for ten years. He was survived by his wife, son, and parents.
August 11, 1976 – Around 3PM, nineteen year old Michael Soles had positioned himself in the southwest area on top of the 26-story Holiday Inn plaza was wounded 30 minutes later by police after he started shooting into crowds below on the city streets. He was armed with two rifles and a lunchbox full of ammunition. The Red Cross center at 321 N Topeka asked for blood donations. A total of two individuals were killed and seven others were wounded by the sniper in the vicinity of Douglas and Water Street in Wichita.
February 9, 1979 – Wichita Firefighter Adrian D. Montgomery lost his life when he was trapped inside a house fire at 1202 N. Emporia Street.
March 22, 1979: A motor carrier incident occurred when a semi-trailer overturned at the I-235 overpass near the Meridian Street exit containing refined uranium 235 “Yellow Cake” (uranium oxide) LSA drums. Several drums were breached and radioactivity was detected on the ground requiring over excavating of topsoil.
April 15, 1979 – A riot erupted at Herman Hill Park between police and concert goers that initially started as police were ordering people to remove their cars from resident’s lawns. The park was estimated to hold 1,500 people, but crowds were estimated to be between 3,500 and 5,000. A total of 62 adults and 22 juveniles were taken into custody, with 22 citizens and 31 police officers injured during the riot. Law enforcement from 22 different agencies responded, and damage estimates were more than $10,000.
October 31, 1979 – The largest flood since the USGS began operating the gage in 1934 occurred on this date. By this time many changes had occurred on the river. The largest change was the completion of the Big Slough-Cowskin Creek and Valley Center Floodway projects. The 1979 total streamflow volume was much larger than the 1904 flood volume however, more than 30 percent of the water was diverted around the city through the floodway and flood damages were minimal. A similar event occurred on Halloween 1998 when the combined flow of the Arkansas River and the floodway nearly reached the 1904 level. Many homes along Cowskin Creek were damaged as a result of this flood.
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