Flash flooding caused by torrential rain in Missouri has killed at least five people, including two poll workers, a married couple who died when their vehicles were swept away in the southern part of the state. Up to 8 inches of rain fell over two days in parts of Missouri, leading to widespread flooding and dozens of water rescues, the AP reports. It was part of a storm system that also spawned tornadoes in Oklahoma and Arkansas. In Wright County, Missouri, a county of about 19,000 residents 210 miles southeast of Kansas City, vehicles driven by a 70-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman were swept away by flooding at Beaver Creek around 4:30am Tuesday, the state patrol said. The bodies were found more than four hours later. They had tried to swim to dry land, but didn't make it, Fox 8 reports.
Wright County Clerk Loni Pedersen confirmed that both of the people who died were poll workers. Three people in two other cars swept away by the fast-rising creek were able to swim to safety, the patrol said.
- Two other deaths were reported in St. Louis County. Firefighters were called Tuesday morning after a submerged SUV was spotted near flooded Gravois Creek, near Interstate 55. Crews broke through the sunroof and pulled out a woman, who was pronounced dead, Lemay Fire Protection District spokesperson Jason Brice said. Hours later, a man's body was found in the same flooded creek, Brice said. Authorities were investigating how the body got there. Fire crews rescued 10 other people from flooded vehicles, Brice said.
- On Monday, Missouri state troopers recovered a 66-year-old man's body after a car was swept off a bridge in Ironton, about 90 miles south of St. Louis.
The National Weather Service said four likely tornadoes, and possibly more, touched down in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas on Monday. There were no reports of deaths or injuries from the tornadoes.
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