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Record rain causes heavy flooding in St. Louis area; 1 dead

Matthew Robinson holds onto his dog Bebe as and Kimberly Tat are rescued from their home by first responders from Central County Fire and Rescue along Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters after flooding from Dardenne Creek inundated the neighborhood during heavy rains on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)
Matthew Robinson holds onto his dog Bebe as and Kimberly Tat are rescued from their home by first responders from Central County Fire and Rescue along Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters after flooding from Dardenne Creek inundated the neighborhood during heavy rains on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

By JIM SALTER / Associated Press 3 min read

O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) – Record rainfall caused widespread flash flooding across the St. Louis area early Tuesday, killing one person, displacing many others and prompting rescues from vehicles and homes.

One person died when a car in St. Louis was found covered in more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) of water. Several puppies drowned when a building became flooded at Stray Paws Adoptables, a stray dog rescue operation in St. Peters, a St. Louis suburb. Firefighters in boats rescued other dogs from the building.

Damage across the region was widespread after a massive downpour dropped more than 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in parts of St. Charles County and up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) elsewhere in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Most of the rain fell in a few hours shortly after midnight.

By noon, about 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain had fallen at Lambert Airport, demolishing the previous daily record of 6.85 inches set Aug. 20, 1915, when remnants of the Galveston, Texas, hurricane moved north to St. Louis. Forecasters expected more storms through the rest of the week.

Firefighters were busy with water rescues. Sections of interstates 70, 64, 55 and 44 were all closed at various times as water swamped the roadways. Some motorists took to social media to report being stranded for hours.