After a parched summer, the Lawrence area Saturday continued soaking up much-needed rain.

But it might wind up being too much.

The National Weather Service Saturday afternoon issued a flood watch effective until 6 p.m. today for parts of northeast Kansas, including Douglas, Franklin and Shawnee counties.

The Weather Service said rain and scattered thunderstorms were expected to continue into today, with rain heavy at times. Any additional heavy rainfall, the National Weather Service noted, will result in considerable runoff and possible flooding of rivers, streams and highways.

Don Rogers, a NWS meteorologist in Topeka, said that if the rain tapered off this afternoon — as expected — the flood watch might be lifted before 6 p.m.

“The creeks and rivers were pretty dry; they’re filling now, but there’s nothing flooding just now. It’s just some crowning of the roads,” he said Saturday night.

Rogers said much of the state south of Interstate 70 was getting much-needed rain Saturday. The hardest hit area, he said, was in the area around Burlington in Lyon County where he said an estimated 2 to 3 inches of rain had fallen Saturday. That came on top of the 3- to 5-inch rainfall there Thursday night.

A combination of factors — upper atmosphere disturbances, a stalled front from the north and moisture moving up from the Gulf of Mexico — conspired to bring the heavy rains, he said.

The official Lawrence total for the 24 hours ending at 10 p.m. was 2.23 inches. That brought to nearly 3 inches the total that has fallen since the rain began Thursday.

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6News Skyhawks reporting Saturday night measured about the same as was reported from the official. Ken Blair in central Lawrence recorded 2.24 inches at 9:30 p.m. with rain still falling. Bruce Stuky recorded an even 2 inches for the 24-hour period ending at 9:45 p.m. William Winkler reported 2.24 inches since 8 a.m. Saturday in southern Lawrence.