County sees 1.5-2 inches of rain over weekend

By Becky Uehling

Grant Tribune-Sentinel

Although not as much as Benkelman, Hayes Center, and Palisade, Perkins County and Wallace did see their fair share of rain over the weekend with an average of 1.5 to 2 inches between Thursday, May 25 to Saturday, May 27, according to the NeRain website. 

According to the US National Weather Service in North Platte, a slow moving complex of heavy showers and thunderstorms developed across parts of southwest Nebraska Thursday, May 25 during the night and early Friday, May 26 morning. 

Unusually heavy showers and thunderstorms for this time of year developed, and a weak jet stream caused the slow motion of the disturbance, according to the service. The result were showers and thunderstorms that repeated across the same areas. 

RECORD FLOODING 

Some areas further south of Perkins County saw 5 to 12 inches of rainfall. 

Record river flooding was observed on the Frenchman creek near Palisade and the Stinking Water creek near Palisade both established new record crests, eclipsing the previous records by around 3 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The Nebraska Department of Roads reported several road closures.

Imperial

Thursday’s rain caused a road closure south of Imperial for a four-mile stretch and washed newly applied fertilizer away and left the Adam Jesse property, as well as a Dundy County maintainer, underwater.

Two Markee Ag Services tanks on a trailer were left parked overnight and got caught in impromptu lake. An empty tank floated, but remained attached by a hose to the trailer and other partially filled tank. 

Friday, Brad Markee and Eldon Kuntzelman paddled out to turn a valve and ensure the product stayed safely in the filled tank.

Markee was glad he could protect the Jesse’s property,  both financially and physically, but said the amount of nutrients saved by unhooking the tanks is minuscule in comparison to the amount lost from neighboring fields due to the runoff from the heavy rains.