ST. LOUIS — Heavy rain in the metro St. Louis area on Tuesday inundated roads, pushed rivers and creeks to the topping point, closed some schools, and blocked roads on Election Day amid record-breaking voter turnout in Missouri.
The heavy rain started early Monday morning, dropping nearly 9 inches of rain in Centerville and Farmington and causing evacuations in St. Francois County as the levee near Iron Mountain Lake was in danger of failing.
By Tuesday morning, the rain kept coming with Flash Flood Warnings for most of the metro St. Louis area and a forecast for storms to keep coming until early afternoon.
There were water rescues reported in the Brentwood area and flooding at the Metro bus barn prevented many buses from running their routes early Tuesday. Those issues subsided some by mid-morning.
On Bayless Avenue near Interstate 55, a woman was found dead inside her SUV after floodwaters receded. A 66-year-old man was also killed in Ironton Monday when his car was swept into floodwaters.
All Brentwood schools were closed Tuesday due to a massive power outage. At least eight other school districts reported closures.
Flooding in Jefferson County had a polling location at Brookdale Farms blocked, forcing some people to vote at a Hillsboro location.
A Weather Impact Alert is in place into Tuesday afternoon with 2" to 4" of additional rainfall is possible leaving some areas with upwards of 5" to 8" by Tuesday morning. We have already had more than 5 inches of rain in many locations. A Flood Watch is in place for most of the area through noon.
