photo by: Karrey Britt

A thunderstorm that passed through Douglas County Monday morning is pictured from inside the Douglas County Courthouse on Massachusetts Street.

Two severe thunderstorms rolled through Douglas County Monday morning with high winds and about an inch of rain, causing damage to some structures and power lines.

A porch was torn off a home in Southwest Douglas County, and the side of Kingston Printing & Design in Eudora was blown off.

photo by: Jonathan Carpenter

Part of the wall of Kingston Printing & Design in Eudora was blown off Monday morning due to high winds and thunderstorms.

Jillian Rodrigue, deputy director for Douglas County Emergency Management, said that as of 3:20 p.m. she did not know if the damaged home was occupied. Kingston Printing & Design did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other damage in the county included downed power lines and tree limbs, Rodrigue said. There were numerous downed lines and trees in the southwest corner of the county, near Overbrook, as well as other sporadic reports throughout Douglas County, according to Rodrigue.

“We are receiving reports of power lines down across Douglas County,” Douglas County Emergency Management tweeted at 11:17 a.m. “If you move around after storms have cleared, be incredibly careful! Do not drive over power lines & treat them like they are live.”

Receiving reports of power lines down across Douglas County. If you move around after storms have cleared, be incredibly careful! Do not drive over power lines & treat them like they are live.
5/4 @ 11:17AM

— Douglas Co. EM (@dgcoem) May 4, 2020

Baldwin City tweeted Monday afternoon about a power outage on First and North Second streets and said repairs would take one or two hours.

The thunderstorms developed in central Kansas and passed through Northeast Kansas throughout the morning. The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch around 6:30 a.m. and canceled it right after noon.

Winds reached up to 80 mph in parts of the county. An estimated 75 to 80 mph wind in Baldwin City hit at 11:05 a.m., and the peak wind reported at the Lawrence Municipal Airport was 61 mph just before 10 a.m., according to meteorologist Sarah Teefey with the National Weather Service’s office in Topeka.

There were no reports of severe hail or flooding, Teefey said. The Lawrence Municipal Airport received 1.10 inches of rain as of 1:30 p.m. Monday.

The storm came with a shelf cloud, which Teefey defined as the leading edge of strong winds associated with an approaching thunderstorm.

photo by: Marcus Maekawa

A shelf cloud looms over the University of Kansas the morning of May 4.

“A shelf cloud is a low level, horizontal, wedge-shaped cloud feature associated with a thunderstorm gust front,” she said.

photo by: Katharina Schaumburg

A shelf cloud is pictured over the University of Kansas at 9:38 a.m. on May 4. Two thunderstorms rolled through Douglas County Monday morning.

According to the National Weather Service, the forecast for the rest of the week is mostly clear with a chance of showers Tuesday night and Thursday.