The current headline at The Wichita Eagle's  website: The story is well written and I learned some useful things about the water restrictions. That said, the story says nothing  about this being a historic drought. As a meteorologist in Kansas for 50+ years, this isn't close to being a historic drought.  Below are the drought conditions as of Tuesday. The "severe drought" (which is a bit of a stretch) in south central Kansas, unfortunately, centers on Cheney Lake, which is where most of Wichita/Sedgwick County's water comes from.  Rain did fall over the area last night.  CL =  Cheney Lake. The arrow represents the watershed. Unfortunately, the amounts upstream, were light enough that most of it soaked into the ground rather than making it into the lake.