BY CORIE LYNN<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Fort Hays State staff and new students readied themselves for the start of the semester, the city of Hays braced itself against the thunderstorms that moved across the state.
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\u201cAcross the region, storms like last night are quite common,\u201d said Dr. P. Grady Dixon, the Interim Dean of the FHSU Werth College of Science, Technology, and Mathematics. \u201cI have hundreds of photos from across the Great Plains of shelf clouds that look very similar to [Tuesday] night.\u201d
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The storms that swept through Hays the night of August 13, however, did have some peculiarities.
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According to Dr. Dixon, experiencing wind speeds over seventy miles per hour or more than three inches of rain isn\u2019t uncommon for the Hays area. To have both is a rarity.
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\u201cTuesday night was the first in the last 30 years to have both 70+ mph winds and 3\u201d+ of rainfall at the same time,\u201d he said.
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This unusual event led to damage across the city of Hays. This included downed trees, flooded streets, and the roof of Celebration Community Church being ripped from the building.
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