Strong morning thunderstorms give Kansas City area taste of severe weather on tap for this week

The strong thunderstorms that swept through the Kansas City region on Tuesday morning were just a taste of severe weather that is expected this week.

The morning storms dumped nearly 3 inches of rain, causing some flash flooding in the area. The heavy rains were accompanied with strong winds that blew down several trees across the area and knocked out power to several thousand people.

In St. Joseph, 2.9 inches of rain fell during the 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. At one point, water reached the bumpers on trucks in the 5300 block of the Stockyards Expressways, according to the National Weather Service.

In the Kansas City area, several locations saw close to 2 inches of rain. Most locations saw 1 to 1.5 inches of rain.

The storms have since moved out of the Kansas City area, but a second and third round of storms are expected to move through the region Tuesday evening and night.

A flood warning remained in effect for the Fishing River near Mosby. At 10:20 a.m., the river was at 20.6 feet. Flood stage is at 18 feet.

Minor flooding was occurring and the river was expected to to continue to rise to near 22 feet by Tuesday afternoon. It was expected to fall below flood stage later in the afternoon.

At 18 feet, fields near Mosby flood and a low-water crossing on west road is impassable.

The National Weather Service also issued a flood warning until 6:45 p.m. Tuesday for small streams for part of the metropolitan area including in Ray County, northeastern Jackson County and eastern Clay County.

Some cities that will experience flooding include Independence, Liberty, Grain Valley, Excelsior Springs, Smithville, Kearney, Oak Grove, Odessa and Buckner.

On the Kansas side, a flood warning has been issued for Stranger Creek in Atchison and Leavenworth counties. Stranger Creek is expected to rise above flood stage of 17 feet by Tuesday evening. It is expected to crest at 17.9 feet before falling below flood stage early Wednesday.

The next round of storms is expected late Tuesday evening across northern Missouri, with large hail and damaging winds possible. A third round of storms is possible later in the night. The main threat from those storms is damaging winds.

Because the storms are expected to bring several rounds of heavy rain, flash flooding and river flooding is possible.

The threat of severe weather continues Wednesday, with damaging winds, large hail and flooding being the main threats.

Additional rounds of storms will be possible Thursday through Saturday, which might lead to compound area river flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

Hot conditions are likely to return late this weekend and continue into the beginning of next week, according to the National Weather Service.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 6:21 AM with the headline "Strong morning thunderstorms give Kansas City area taste of severe weather on tap for this week."