Historic floods in St. Louis leave one dead

Flooding in St. Louis

By Mark Choy

Published: July 26, 2022 3:16pm

Updated: July 26, 2022 5:35pm

Thunderstorms dumps 10 inches of rain on St. Louis, and other parts of Missouri on Tuesday – leaving one dead and others trapped in cars and homes.

The record rainfalls created flash floods across the St. Louis metro area, forcing the closure of roads. The previous record was in 1915 at 6.85 inches of rain.

City Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said the death was a motorist pulled from a vehicle in 8.5 inches of floodwater. The property damage from the rain seems to be "very significant" while reported injuries remain low.

Gov. Mike Parson urged residents to not drive during the flood for any reason due to the life-threatening flooding.

"I want to thank our @MSHPTrooperGHQ & @MoDOT crews for working alongside local teams.@MoSEMA_ & @MoPublicSafety are coordinating with local response agencies to provide additional assistance as needed to protect Missourians," Parson tweeted.

Missouri and Illinois could see up to 12 inches of rain Tuesday evening while more storms were possible later this week, forecasters said.