OTTAWA – Despite a dollop of ice and snow, this area missed the worst of the powerful and deadly storm system that’s walloping its way across the country and heading for the northeast. Storm Goliath, as it’s called, spawned large tornadoes in the Dallas area that killed at least 11 people and injured dozens. Goliath dumped a foot of rain in a monster swath ranging from Oklahoma, through Missouri and Arkansas, to Illinois, causing massive flooding, some of which hasn’t been seen in nearly a quarter-century. In Missouri Tuesday, more than 250 roads were closed because of flooding rivers and creeks, including I-44 in eastern Missouri. A wastewater plant in the St. Louis area stopped working when it was flooded, sending unprocessed sewage into streams and rivers. The city’s Metropolitan Sewage District’s executive director told ABC News it looks like the Mississippi River is going to rise three feet above the plant’s levee. The death toll from the storm has reached 28. In this area, there were a slew of accidents caused by vehicles sliding off icy roads or into each other. Among the injury accidents reported, Monday: A Paola woman and a baby girl were taken to Ransom Memorial Hospital following a weather-related crash on K-68 east of Ottawa. The wreck closed K-68 for about an hour. Heather Thornberg, 20, was driving east on K-68 near Oregon Road, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. She was driving too fast on the slick road and lost control, the highway patrol said. Her car slid into the west-bound lane and hit a semi-truck driven by Kevin Wiese, 51, Salina. She was injured and taken to the hospital. She was wearing a seat belt. Her passenger, 6-month-old Taytum Teeters, was in a car seat and wasn’t injured but was taken to RMH for examination. The trucker wasn’t injured. A Kansas City man was taken to Kansas University Medical Center after he was injured in a one-vehicle accident next to the Franklin-Miami county line. Bartolo Rebollar-Gonzalez, 28, was driving north on I-35 but was going too fast for the slippery conditions, the highway patrol said. His pickup slid off the road, hit a guardrail and went down an embankment. Two passengers in his truck weren’t injured. A 50-year-old Wellsville man was taken to Olathe Medical Center after he was injured when his pickup went off icy I-35. Fred Wise was driving south on I-35 near Sunflower Road but lost control of his pickup truck, which went off the road and overturned. He was wearing a seat belt. A 52-year-old Gardner woman was injured as a result of a two-vehicle accident on I-35 next to the U.S. 169 interchange. Marcus Smith, 22, Stilwell, was driving south on I-35 and lost control of his car, causing it to spin. His car was struck by a Jeep driven by Jeannie Southern. Her Jeep went off the road and overturned. She was taken to Overland Park Regional Medical Center. Smith and a passenger in his car weren’t injured. Three people were taken to an Emporia hospital following a one-vehicle accident on I-35 about four miles south of Lebo in Coffey County. Elmer Sanchez, 40, Kansas City, was driving north on I-35 when he lost control of his SUV and it crossed the center median and rolled over in the north ditch. Sanchez and two passengers, Ana Guzman, 43, and Stephanie Sanchez, 6, both of Kansas City; were injured and taken to Newman Regional Health Center. A 35-year-old Honduras man was injured as a result of a one-vehicle accident on I-35 in Osage County. Marlon Amaya, 41, Wichita, was driving a van north on I-35 four miles north of Waverly when he lost control of the van. The van slid into ditch beyond the south shoulder and overturned onto its top. Amaya and a passenger weren’t injured. They were wearing seat belts. However, another passenger, Ricardo Garcia, was injured and was taken to Ransom Memorial Hospital in Ottawa. The highway patrol said he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.
Wednesday, Dec. 30, 10 a.m.
