By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

RUSSELL -- The storm moved fast and it moved furiously, dumping heavy rain in some areas and hail elsewhere.

In eastern Ellis County and parts of Russell County, anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of rain fell overnight.

South of Russell, several power poles were toppled by the high winds, said Russell County Sheriff John Fletcher.

"We lost at least five telephone poles south of here," Fletcher said this morning.

Electricity was cut off to a number of rural residents in the area.

"It hit hard and fast," he said.

Other than the power poles, few other reports were filtering in to the sheriff's office. In fact, Fletcher said a deputy just had returned from checking the rivers in the county, and found no problems.

No flooding was reported anywhere else in the county.

"Somebody told me we had a 68 mph wind gust in Russell," he said, but added he could not confirm that report.

Rain fell through much of the area.

At the Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center south of Hays, rainfall amounted to 1.32 inches.

Rainfall amounts varried from weather observers reporting on the CoCoRaHs weather-reporting Web site.

The heaviest amount was 3.23 inches north of Gorham in Russell County. One reporting station in eastern Ellis County measured 2.75 inches this morning. Elsewhere in Ellis County, rainfall amounted to nearly an inch at most locations reporting.

Rainfall in Logan County, near Oakley, stood at more than an inch.