Storms across Kansas brought more rain, hail and damaging winds on Wednesday night, including some gusts strong enough to blow over railroad cars in La Crosse.



Although the storms produced only about a half to one inch of rain in Reno and Rice counties, coming on top of previous rains in the past week it was enough to swell Cow Creek and prompt the National Weather Service to issue a flood warning for small streams, country roads and low-lying farmland through 8:30 p.m. Thursday.



Todd Strain of the Reno County Emergency Management Department reported at 10 a.m. Friday that the following roads were closed because of high water: 95th Avenue from Dean to Sallee; Sallee from 82nd to 95th;�Wilson from 69th to 82nd; 69th from Wilson to Pennington Road; Pennington Road from Nickerson Boulevard to 43rd; 43rd from Pennington Road to Hendricks, and 50th from Pennington to Wilson.�



Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson urged motorists to turn around if they come to a �high water� sign.



�I have real concerns with roads signed as �high water,� � Henderson wrote in an email. �These areas do not meet the criteria, at the time the signs were posted, to classify them as being closed. If the water rises to that level, then they will be closed. The problem is, we may not know the water has risen to that level until a situation arises that has put someone at risk. The water for this area should continue to rise because it is coming towards us from Rice County.�



Sterling got 0.41 inches of rain and Hutchinson 0.27 inches in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. Thursday.



The heaviest rain appeared to fall 20 miles northeast of Dighton at Utica, where a co-op observer reported 2.95 inches. About 12 miles farther east along Kansas Highway 4, another co-op observer reported 2.3 inches of rain in Ransom. And 15 miles northeast of there, 2.47 inches were reported at the dam at Cedar Bluff Reservoir.



County Road 200 in the northwest part of Ness County was closed in two places by fallen trees. In one spot, a culvert washed out, causing the tree to fall. In the other spot, strong wind was cited as the likely cause.



Elsewhere, 2.25 inches of rain were reported in Ellis, where the emergency manager reported at 9:30 p.m. that numerous streets were flooded from curb to curb. Fifteen miles to the east along Interstate 70, 1.79 inches of rain was reported at the Hays water plant. Still farther east on the interstate, Russell reported 1.17 inches of rain, Salina 0.41 and Enterprise, east of Abilene, 2.02. Reports in Manhattan ranged from 0.38 at the airport to 0.85 on the campus of Kansas State University. Topeka�s Forbes Field got 0.66 inches and Lawrence 0.77. South of Lawrence, Ottawa reported 1.95.



In the southwest part of the state, Garden City reported a trace of rainfall, Dodge City 0.37, Pratt 0.32, Great Bend 0.46 and Medicine Lodge 0.94.



Winds estimated at 60 miles per hour or more were reported across a wide area, including Ness City, Dighton, Jetmore, Scott City, Garden City, Great Bend, Ellsworth, Brookville, Salina, Attica and Medicine Lodge.



Nearby, 55 mph wind gusts were reported in Sylvia, as well as 50 mph gusts in Nickerson and 60 mph gusts in Turon in Reno County. West of Raymond in Rice County, 70 mph gusts were reported.



Fallen power poles and tree damage were reported in Dighton in Lane County. In Amy, also in Lane County, wind gusts estimated at 80 mph snapped tree limbs 6 inches in diameter.



At Macksville, in nearby Stafford County, law enforcement reported that a 6- to 8-inch-diameter tree limb had fallen across U.S. 50 about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday.



In La Crosse in Rush County, law enforcement reported at 10:26 p.m. that train cars had been blown over from a half-mile west of town into the town itself.



West of there, a gust of 91 miles per hour was reported by a trained spotter 10 miles southwest of Ness City at 9 p.m.



In Larned, a flat roof was ripped off a business on the west side of town and a couple of 12-inch-diameter tree limbs fell. Sheets of metal were torn from another roof in Jetmore.



In Hutchinson, the forecast calls for clear skies until Saturday, when clouds and a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms will return, increasing to 50 percent Saturday night and Sunday.