Photos Needed

If you have photos taken during the flood that can be posted on this web site,  please send to frank.ruff@juno.com.

Also looking for photos of the high school graduation.

Flood Waters Recede

From the Capital-Journal:
ROSSVILLE — Debris covered streets and yards in north Rossville Saturday morning as flood waters receded and residents cleaned up.
George Sullivan, 90, sat comfortably in the shade just a few yards from where the overflowing Cross Creek washed up rotting corn stock and other refuse. When waters started surrounding his home Friday he said he wasn’t worried. This is the 17th flood since he and his wife. Marie, moved to their home on East Pottawatomie Street in 1957.
“Water don’t bother us,” he said.
The basement flooded, but Sullivan said that happens every time, so he stopped storing things down there. Several members of his family, including his daughter Janice Craven, raked debris in his back yard. Her parents shouldn’t have to worry about cleaning up at their age, Craven said, so she and her husband drove up in the morning from the Edgerton area.
“This isn’t the worst we’ve had,” she said leaning on a pitch fork.
A blanket of corn stock floated on the few inches of standing water between Sullivan’s house and his neighbor’s. Over there, Todd and Kelly Brown, along with about a dozen friends and neighbors cleaned a much bigger mess.
“I think we took the brunt of it for the rest of the town,” Kelly said hosing off her back patio,
A few feet away, a crew worked pushing several inches of water out their detached garage as a pump ran nearby. The yard and driveway looked like a small lake. Todd and others slushed back and forth trying to push the swamp into the ditch.
With arrival of second pump, it was time to dry out the basement.
“I haven’t looked in their yet, not sure I want to,” Todd said to his wife.
Inside, a freezer and some shelves floated in several feet of murky water. This year’s flood isn’t as bad as 2005’s, Todd said, but that doesn’t matter. The clean up will be about the same.
The family watched Friday afternoon as floodwater from Cross Creek flowed south along Pearl Street toward their home. They hurried to pack up as much from the garage and basement as they could, but didn’t use sand bags. In 2005 when their basement flooded the sand bags made it worse, Kelly said.
“We knew it was coming, but there wasn’t much we could do,” she said. “I’m shocked it receded so fast.”
Earlier in the morning, Alex Bird, a recent Rossville Junior-Senior High graduate, and some friends dumped out sandbags at a sand volleyball court near the school. The day before, he and some other students drove around town delivering sandbags to people who waved their truck down. By noon Saturday, he was over at the Brown’s house helping clean up. Bird said he was glad to see the town come together to help each other.
“It’s a pretty cool thing, you know, small town love,” he said.
Some parts of Shawnee County saw a reprieve from rain Friday into Saturday morning after heavy rain earlier in the week caused the Rossville flooding.
As of 8:45 a.m. gauges at Philip Billard Municipal Airport had only a trace of rain as most of the overnight rain stayed in the northeast part of the county, National Weather Service meteorologist Emily Heller said.
Rossville, where flooding affected at least 40 homes Friday evening, received just one-quarter of an inch based on radar estimates, she said. At 7:30 Saturday morning Cross Creek was at 20.9 feet. That is down from 21.36 feet the National Weather Service reported at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Cross Creek is at flood stage at 25 feet.
“We had a period to dry out yesterday, but we are still very wet and the rivers are very full so any additional rain could be a concern.” she said.
Morning thunderstorms should move out of the area before noon, but Shawnee County will remain under a flash flood watch until 4 p.m. Around 3 p.m. storms may form in the area the could bring local heavy rain, Hiller said. In the evening and overnight Saturday, storms in Nebraska could move into northern Kansas.
Severe weather is likely Sunday afternoon and evening as another round of thunderstorms moves into the area, Heller said.
The Kansas River at Topeka was at 20.9 feet as of 7:30 a.m. Flood stage is 26 feet.
With more rain forecasted for Saturday night and Sunday, Todd said he was concerned, not for his own house, but for the rest of town.
“It seems like everyone got really lucky,” he said. “If it rains more it might get worse and I don’t want it to get worse.”

Class of '80 To Have Reunion

      The Class of 1980 will be having their reunion this summer during the Tall Corn Festival. Contact Janice Taylor ,  Suzie Oliver, or Ann Leppke  if you need some info. The are ooking for some people that haven't been seen in a few years. Spread the word among classmates that you know.

Derik Kesler Trial Date Set

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW)- The jury trial is set to begin for the man accused of hitting a bicyclist on K-177 in June 2014.

Derik Kesler, 33, of Rossville is set to appear in Riley County Court Sept. 22.

Kesler faces a one misdemeanor charge of vehicular homicide in the death of 49-year-old Mark Jilka. Jilka was riding his bike along K-177 south of Manhattan.

The Manhattan Mercury reports that Kesler was looking at the GPS on his phone the accident happened. 

Taylor Kirk Honored Athlete

    Each year, the Topeka Shawnee County Sports Council recognizes area athletes with awards in 10 categories including outstanding male and female athlete in fall, winter and spring sports, most inspirational male and female athlete and most outstanding overall male and female athlete. Student-athletes must be a senior in high school, have a 3.0 cumulative GPA and have demonstrated excellence in sports during the 2014-2015 school year.
    This year,  Taylor Kirk from RHS was nominated in the female spring sports category.
    To read the complete article,  go to:  http://www.wibw.com/sports/headlines/11th-Annual-Shawnee-County-Sports-Banquet-Nominees-306301661.html

Rattlers Beat Midwest A's

    The Rattlers topped the Midwest A's by 6-3 at Joe Campbell Stadium on June 5.  Because of the many rains,  this was just the second game for the Rattlers who now stand 1-1 thus far this season.
     Jeremy Thomas and Tim Schaareman each had a double.  H=Taylor Mah picked up the win after pitching two scoreless innings.  Jake Hosey notched his first save of the season.

More Flood News

From the Capital-Journal:
ROSSVILLE — Rossville residents Friday morning prepared for flooding from Cross Creek, placing sandbags around homes and removing refrigerators and other items from businesses in the downtown area.
“We grew up here, so we know who gets hit the worst,” said Chad Shafstall, of Rossville.
Cross Creek in Rossville and the Wakarusa River were expected to exceed their crest levels Friday, causing flooding in Rossville and along the Wakarusa River, said Shawnee County Sheriff’s Lt. Danny Lotridge.
About 12:30 p.m. all Rossville firefighters were asked to report to their stations to help with evacuation.
Cross Creek’s water level was expected to reach nearly 29 feet at 1 p.m. The Wakarusa River was expected to reach 21 feet at 10 a.m.
For information about the Wakarusa River, call Shawnee County Emergency Management at (785) 251-4152 or the sheriff’s office at (785) 251-2366.
Residents who have questions about Cross Creek can call the Rossville Fire Department at (785) 584-6349, the Rossville Police Department at (785) 584-6047 or the sheriff’s office.
Shafstall and dozens of other residents from Rossville, which is northwest of Topeka, were busy filling sandbags with sand at the high school.
“You see a lot of people you haven’t seen in a long time,” Shafstall said.
Shafstall, safety officer for Wolf Construction in Topeka, said the sandbags would help divert the flow of water and keep erosion down.
Sandbags and sand were available for residents shortly after 6 a.m. at the high school. Shawnee County Public Works was providing the sand.
After protecting their own homes with sandbags, several people went back to the school to help bag sand for other neighbors.
“I’m helping out because a lot of the older people helped raise me,” said Shafstall, who also served in the Coast Guard. “There are a lot of young backs around here, fortunately.”
Many of the high school’s volleyball and football team members were gathered at the school to help out before coaches called to ask for help, Shafstall said.
Larry Couchman, of Manhattan, filled about three dozen sandbags to place around his father’s garage and home in the 100 block of Pearl.
Couchman helped his father, Harold Couchman, through the last flood in Rossville, which took place in October 2005.
“I lost everything in my basement,” Harold Couchman said as he and his son removed items from his garage and stacked sandbags around the perimeter.
Derek Balch, 15, is Harold Couchman’s neighbor. After helping his family prepare for the flooding, Balch was helping the Couchmans. He said his family was trying to move items from their finished basement to the upstairs portion of the house.
On a footbridge overlooking Cross Creek, Dominick Reynolds, 19, of Delia, was watching logs float quickly by and also keeping tabs on how fast the water was rising.
“My sister lives in Rossville,” Reynolds said.
He drove from Delia to Rossville to help her prepare for the flood and to help his employer, Anderson Upholstery, and his mother, who owns Dora’s Closet, move items.
“I’m stuck in town now,” Reynolds said.
Joe VandeVelde, of Rossville, had stopped his Blue Chevy Caprice on N.W. Rossville Road near the Cross Creek Drainage Basin. He was watching as water rose across the road.
“I’ve been around Cross Creek all my life,” VandeVelde, 74, of Rossville said. “We have some real problems with floods.”
Cross Creek and Wakarusa River had risen significantly during the past 24 hours and continued to rise, Lotridge said early Friday.
“Heavy rain falls locally and to the north of the area have filled water reservoirs that feed into Cross Creek,” a news release said. “Residents in Rossville should expect a flood event that will last for several days. Residents west of Main Street will be impacted during the early stages of this flooding event.”
Localized flooding will result in road closures and is expected to reach homes, Lotridge said.
West of Rossville, several country roads were closed because of high waters. A house at 15120 N.W. 54th already was flooded. A mailbox surrounded by flowers sat in several inches of water. A detached garage was surrounded with water, and water was already touching parts of the house.
In downtown Rossville, Sarene McCrory, owner of Grounded Coffee House, was removing items, including a refrigerator, from the business.
There had been a steady flow of people who stopped by for coffee and breakfast.
“They still have to their caffeine,” McCrory said. “They still have to go to work.”
Stephanie Lovewell and Caleb Crawford, who live on Navarre street, were standing in their back yard watching as Cross Creek rose closer and closer to their home.
Crawford said he didn’t think the creek water would get too close to the house. However, the couple already had lost several new plantings, a fire pit and a burn pit.
Despite the possibility of flooding, Lovewell said there was a bright spot.
“It has been nice to see the community come together,” she said.
Pickups filled with sandbags were being driven house to house for those who needed an extra hand.
Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones was spotted driving the roads around Rossville looking for flooding. He encountered VandeVelde on N.W. Rossville Road, which was flooded over about two miles west of Rossville.
By 11:30 a.m., water was rushing over the roadway. Several cars turned around and headed back toward town.
Crystal and Rocky Welch, of Delia, were trying to get to their home but flooded roads were keeping them from being able to get there.
“I have three dogs out there,” Rocky Welch said. “I need to get to them. I may be walking.”

Flood News & Video

SHAWNEE COUNTY (KSNT) – Rivers and roadways are flooding across northeast Kansas.

Just past the noon hour KSNT News learned that a nursing home in Rossville was being evacuated due to potential flooding.

One worker told KSNT News’ Gwen Barmgardner the patients will be transferred to a Kansas City facility.

The Wakarusa River is expected to crest at 10 a.m. Friday June 5. The river rose significantly overnight and continues to rise.

Residents along the Wakarusa River in Shawnee County should expect flooding that will last several days. Roads will be closed and flooding could reach homes in some areas.

Cross Creek in Rossville is also expected to crest at 1 p.m. Friday.

Heavy rainfall filled water reservoirs that feed into Cross Creek.

The high water levels especially threaten residents west of Main Street. Flooding will close roads and flood homes.

Residents should take precautions to protect their belongings in lower levels of their homes. Sand bags are available for pickup at Rossville High School Friday morning.

http://ksnt.com/2015/06/05/local-rivers-expected-to-rise-above-flood-stage/

Flood Preperation Video

    Video of people prepping for flood on June 5 can be viewed at:
http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Damage-Reported-At-MAnhattan-Regional-Airport-306266781.html

Nursing Home Moving Residents

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) Rossville residents have been warned to prepare for flooding and the Rossville Nursing Home may soon be under evacuation after recent heavy rains.

Officials say there will be around 50 residents that will be bussed to another nursing home in the Kansas City area because they're expecting Cross Creek to exceed the crest level reaching almost 29 feet.

Early Friday morning, Shawnee County Emergency Management set up a sand bagging station at Rossville High School to prepare for the crest.

Topeka Metro was called to help with the nursing home evacuation plus several area fire departments have also been called to Rossville to assist in flood preparation and evacuation.

Flooding is expected to cause road closures and reach homes and buildings West of Main Street once the river crests.

Officials say the high waters could pose a threat to the area for several days.

Officials say residents west of Main Street can expect heavy flooding, possibly into their homes, and encourage everyone to take precautions to protect their belongings.

Localized flooding is expected to last for several days and result in several road closures.

Some areas north of Rossville received five to six inches of rain Thursday evening into Friday morning, filling already full reservoirs.

Flooding In Rossville

From the Capital-Journal:
      Rossville residents took steps Friday morning to prepare for flooding from Cross Creek, throwing sand bags around homes and businesses.
      Larry Couchman, of Manhattan, helped his father, Harold Couchman, prepare for the flood but placing sand bags around the elder Couchman’s garage in Rossville.
      Several roads around Rossville were closed Friday morning due to high water. Owners of downtown businesses removed appliances and other valuables from stores in advance of worsened flooding.
      Cross Creek in Rossville and the Wakarusa River are expected to exceed the crest levels Friday, causing flooding in Rossville and along the Wakarusa River, said Shawnee County Sheriff’s Lt. Danny Lotridge.
      Cross Creek’s water level is expected to reach nearly 29 feet at 1 p.m. The Wakarusa River is expected to reach 21 feet at 10 a.m.
      The creek and river have risen significantly during the past 24 hours and continue to rise, Lotridge said early Friday.
      “Heavy rain falls locally and to the north of the area have filled water reservoirs that feed into Cross Creek,” a news release said. “Residents in Rossville should expect a flood event that will last for several days. Residents west of Main Street will be impacted during the early stages of this flooding event.”
      Residents in Rossville can pick up sand bags at Rossville High School beginning at 6:30 a.m., Lotridge said.

Rattlers Play At Home Friday Night

    The Rattlers play a home game on Friday night, June 5, at 7:00 against the Midwest A's  Batting practice starts at 4:00.

TASMAD For Coming Year

      RHS TASMAD Student Leadership is proud to announce the new members for 2015. All students complete a survey that ask which students they listen to and respect their opinions. TASMAD members are students that are chosen by their peers for their leadership, it is a diverse group of students that represents RHS.
       The new members are Freshmen - Bryson Hase, Katie Dohrman, Jordan Bittner, Garrett Carver and Caila Hill, Sophomores -  Ashley Zemek, Tronnie Blair, Jared Morris and Hannah Miller, Juniors - Sierra Striet, Paul Borcherding and Liam Grant, Seniors - Lauryn Steckel and Tucker Horak.
      TASMAD is looking forward to the next school year and scheduled leadership training on July 22, 29 and August 5, 12 in the evenings. 

New 2015-16 FBLA Officers

2015-2016 NEW FBLA Officers

President: Paul Borcherding

Vice President: Mitchell Porter

Secretary: Morgan Foster

Treasurer: Jarrett Ingwerson

Parliamentarian: Eric Ebert

STUCO Rep: Ryan Ehrilch