ST. LOUIS — Floodwaters across the St. Louis and Metro East forced numerous high-trafficked roads to close Tuesday, and several water rescues were performed throughout the region.
Below are the confirmed closures we know about so far.
MoDOT announced the following flooding closures:
- The inside lanes of I-270 are closed in both directions at North Florissant Road, and those lanes will remain closed until Wednesday due to heavy flooding.
- I-44 westbound lanes are closed at Lewis Road due to flooding on the road.
- I-55 northbound is closed at Loughborough Drive.
- Numerous portions of I-44 are closed in St. Louis County, including 141 North to 44 East, Lewis Road to 44 East, and Antire Road to 44 West.
- All eastbound I-70 ramps have been shut down in O'Fallon.
- Flash Flooding has been reported at eastbound I-64 and Hampton.
- State Route C is closed in St. Charles County from Salt River Road to East Road.
- State Route 47 is closed in Warren County from State Route N to Krone Road.
The St. Louis Fire Department also asked drivers to avoid South Vandeventer & Marke due to flooding.
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced the following closures:
- Interstate 64 is closed in both directions in Illinois between Okawville and Richview, mile markers 41 and 61, due to intense rain and flooding.
- IL-127 south of I-64 to I-64 northbound and southbound closed due to flooding.
- US-50 from IL-4 to Belleville Street in Lebanon closed due to flooding.
- IL-15 eastbound and westbound from IL-127 to US-51 closed due to flooding.
IL-158/177 at Loop Creek in St. Clair County closed due to flooding.
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in Illinois announced the following closures:
Most of Highway 15 has water on the roadway
I-64 in Washington County near Nashville.
Highway 37 South of Loop Road
East Dix-Rivington and North Boyd Lane
North Hall Lane
North Passport Lane and East Heisman
The 700 block of East Dix-Rivington
Old Centralia and Tinsley
North Casey Pike and Strawbridge
Riddle Lane
East Carpenter and North Krupp Lane
Highway 15 and Drivers Lane
Highway 148 and Spruce
Dubois Black Top near Riddle
Butternut Road
Cornell West of Shiloh
Boyd Lane and Drivers Road
An elderly Alton couple died after their car became stuck in floodwaters in Jersey County. Another driver was able to get onto the roof of his car and wait for rescue.
There were also several water rescues in Shiloh, in St. Clair County.
5 On Your Side's Annie Krall spoke to one driver who was stuck in the high water near the Green Mount Crossing parking lot that had almost knee-high water around 12:30 p.m.
Hunter Beishir of Belleville was running around 30 minutes late to work in Shiloh when he was caught in the rain while driving close to Frank Scott Parkway. Making a turn, Beishir's car started taking on water and his coworkers had to rescue him.
"It was really scary," Beishir said. "A lot of things started going through my mind at that point. What am I going to do? I still need to get home, need to come back to work. How am I going to get there, stuff like that. It was pretty scary."
Beishir sat on the top of his car while he waited to be towed out.
The Mascoutah Police Department said there were multiple water rescues in St. Clair County including one on State Route 161. Another happened near Scott Air Force Base Tuesday morning, where the vehicle was almost completely submerged.
After thinking it would only be a small puddle rather than a deeper hole like it actually was, Beishir said that in retrospect he regrets going through the flood road at all.
"After driving through it, my car started to stumble a bit," Beishir said. "It just turned off and then water started seeping in through the door cracks. After that, I called my insurance company to let them take care of it from there."
The Belleville resident is now cautioning other drivers to go around water on the roads if they can or not drive through flash flooding whenever possible.
Beishir said he has to find a loaner car to try to get to work the rest of this week.
He isn't alone.
People in St. Clair County may no longer need to worry about getting caught in rushing water as of Tuesday afternoon, however, many will be dealing with vehicle damage caused by the flooding.