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Chase County Kansas Obituaries
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Larson, Al Rains take six lives on Turnpike
Six die in Jacob Creek
flood Saturday
Four children who were traveling in a van washed off of the Kansas Turnpike by high waters at Jacob Creek in Chase County near the Lyon-Chase County line Saturday evening, Aug. 30, were confirmed dead Sunday.
Tuesday morning, Sept. 2, the body of their mother and the body of a Texas man whose identity remained to be verified were found in a watershed about one half mile beyond the vehicle where the children had been found, said Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) officials at a Tuesday morning press conference in Ernporia.
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According to the KTA, flash flooding from a torrential rain storm swept six vehicles off the turnpike. The bodies of the four children: Alenah Rogers, 1; Nicholas Rogers, 3; Zachary Rogers, 5; and Makenah Rogers, 8, had been recovered, said Capt. Mark Conboy of the KTA on Sunday. Three of the children were still strapped into the minivan when they were discovered. The van was found a mile and a half from the road. The fourth child was found Sunday morning about a quarter mile from the Van.
Officials had not yet been able to verify Larson's identity at the time of the news conference.
Everyone in the other vehicles that were washed from the road Saturday had been accounted for, said earlier AP reports.
The children's father, Robert Rogers of Liberty, Mo., told Trooper Marc McCune he had broken out the driver's side window and was sucked out of the minivan. The van kept filling with water and floated away, McCune told the AP
"He knew his family was still in the van with the water," McCune said. "It's the most helpless feeling I've had in my life."
The Rev. Steve Gordon of' Bethany Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., was an eye-witness to the flood disaster. Gordon told the AP his vehicle was one of those forced to stop on the northbound lanes of the turnpike Saturday night as he and a church deacon were returning to Kansas City from Dallas.
"It looked like a river going across the road," Gordon said. "The concrete barriers (between lanes) were being tossed around like feathers."
Still missing Monday were the children's mother and a man from Fort Worth, Texas, who had called his wife Saturday evening, told her his Jeep had stalled and asked her to come get him. The
wife, who arrived Sunday mornmg, had not heard from him since.
The body of Melissa Rogers, the children's mother, was found Tuesday morning at approximately 7:30 a.m. in a watershed downstream from the scene of the flooding on the turnpike, said KTA officials at Tuesday's Emporia news conference.
Another body, believed to be that of Al Larson, 31, of Fort Worth, Texas, was also found in the watershed near Mrs. Rogers.
Gordon said he saw three cars in the southbound lanes swept under water. His companion, J.R. Robinson, said he saw four or five. "It happened really fast, there was nothing that could be done," Gordon said. "It was a sick feeling just watching them go under."
Abandoned vehicles swept away by the waters were strewn downstream. Dan Nurnberg, whose home is about two miles north of the scene, said Monday that debris from the turnpike had washed through the emergency overflow spillway of a watershed on Jacob Creek two miles north of the turnpike.
Nurnberg said that he was uncertain how much rain had fallen at his home over the week end-his gauge ran over a couple times. He estimated 11 to 12 inches, though.
The National Weather Service said the Emporia area had
received 8 -12 inches of rain
in 24 hours beginning early
Saturday. Chase County
official and unoffical
reports ranged from 7.28"
in Cottonwood Falls to 15"
in the southern part of the
county, for the weekend.
Brad Ketcham, a meteorologist with the National
Weather Service in Wichita
told the AP, "I've heard
reports that it was a wall of
water. I can't substantiate
it, but it doesn't surprise
me that there was six feet
of water over the road,
based on our precipitation
estimates.
The flooding washed out
chunks of the turnpike. It
was open to one lane of traffic, each direction, on
Sunday. It was unclear how
long the other lanes would
be closed.
Among those assisting
the Kansas Highway
Patrol at the scene were
Chase County Search and
Rescue, EMS, the Matfield
Green and Saflordville fire
departments and sheriff's
officers.
Tuesday morning search
and recovery operations
continued. With all the the
missingbodies found the
focus of the operation had
turned to removing the
vehicles and recovering
personal property.
Chase County Leader-News. Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, Sept 4, 2003
by Lorna Marvin
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