A couple in their 70s who served as election workers were among at least five people killed in Missouri after heavy rains caused flooding across the state.
Parts of Missouri received up to 8 inches of rain in two days, leading to widespread flooding and dozens of water rescues. 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, a 70-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman were in a vehicle that was swept away by flooding near Beaver Creek around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. the state patrol said. The bodies of the couple from Manes, Missouri, were found more than four hours later.
Wright County Clerk Loni Pedersen confirmed that both people who died were poll workers.
“This is a tragic loss for Wright County,” Pedersen said in an email. “They were committed citizens who valued honest and fair elections.”
Three people in two other cars that were swept away by the rapidly rising creek were able to jump to safety, the patrol said.
Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP
Two other deaths were reported in St. Louis County. Firefighters were called Tuesday morning after a submerged SUV was spotted near the flooded Gravois Creek, near Interstate 55. Crews broke through the sunroof and pulled out a woman, who was pronounced dead, said Lemay Fire Protection spokesman Jason Brice. District.
Hours later, a man’s body was found in the same flooded creek, Brice said. Authorities are investigating how the body got there. Firefighters rescued 10 other people from flooded vehicles, Brice said.
On Monday, Missouri state troopers recovered the body of a 66-year-old man after a car was swept off a bridge in Ironton, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) 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 as a result of the tornadoes.
Keli Cain, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said the damage assessment is ongoing.
The storms struck a day after tornadoes injured at least 11 people in the Oklahoma City area in central Oklahoma.
Cain said the department worked with the Oklahoma State Election Board to ensure polling places were not disrupted.
