40 years ago: Steady rains lead to flash-flood warnings

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 10, 1973:

  • The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings today for smaller streams and creeks in northeast Kansas, including the Lawrence area. The warning came with a forecast for showers and occasional thunderstorms which were expected to bring up to two inches of additional precipitation in the area. Local officials were keeping their eyes on Mud Creek, just north of Lawrence, and Stranger Creek in Leavenworth County. “Of course, no telling what quick heavy rains could do,” said Douglas County Undersheriff Dallas Murphy. “We’ll just have to take it as it comes.” As of noon today, Lawrence had already received 3.8 inches of rain for March, 1.5 inches above the normal monthly average.
  • Newly released photos captured by the Mariner 9 spacecraft were increasing expectations of life on Mars. Dr. Carl Sagan said this week that the photos showed that running water must have existed there in relatively recent times. “This finding greatly enhances the possibility of life on Mars and the chance that biological experiments such as those on the 1976 Viking lander spacecraft will detect it,” Sagan said.