Record rainfall caused flash flooding in parts of St. Louis and other areas of Missouri early Tuesday, with reports of homes being rescued and submerged vehicles on swampy roads, officials said.
Jim Siewking, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis, described the rainfall as “historic,” adding that the city’s daily rainfall record, set in August 1915, was broken in five hours.
“St. Louis received over seven inches of rain,” he said. “We’ll probably end up with over eight inches of rain as the rain tapers off this morning.” Up to 10 inches of rain was reported in areas northwest of St. Louis, he said.
Mr. Sieveking said torrential rain had caused “catastrophic flash flooding,” with neighborhoods submerged, cars stranded and parts of Interstates 70, 64 and 55 closed. He estimated there were more than 100 water rescues in the area.
The city’s fire department said on Twitter it was responding to multiple reports of vehicles and people trapped in high water.
The flood inundated roads, closing more than two dozen stretches of major roads that crisscross the St. Louis area. including Interstate 170, a beltway that runs north and south, and Interstate 70, which runs east and west across the state, the state Department of Transportation said.
At least four state highways and several other major roads were also closed by the flood, the release said.
In a residential area on the city’s western edge, rescuers using inflatable boats to reach homes where residents were trapped evacuated half a dozen people, while others sheltered in place in at least 18 homes during a operation, the St. Louis Fire Department said.
St. Louis was one of more than a dozen residential areas in Missouri and neighboring counties in south-central Illinois that were flooded by heavy rainfall overnight.
Residents of St. Charles County, in Missouri’s east-central region, were told to stay home. A county official told News 4, a St. Louis television station, that emergency dispatchers were overwhelmed with calls for water rescuers, mostly from the St. Peters and O’Fallon areas.
Flash flood warnings remained in effect for much of the region until early Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
The rain is expected to leave the region by midday, Mr Sieveking said, adding that by then water is expected to recede in the area’s larger streams and rivers.
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