Five people were killed in flash flooding in Missouri on Monday and Tuesday, including an elderly couple who served as poll workers.
Around eight inches of rain fell in parts of southern Missouri across the two days, causing streams and rivers to overflow their banks and cover roadways in water.
The poll workers — a 70-year-old man and 73-year-old woman — were driving in Wright County around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday when they were swept away, authorities said. Their bodies were found about four hours later.
“This is a tragic loss for Wright County,” Wright County Clerk Loni Pedersen said. “They were dedicated citizens who valued fair and honest elections.”
Fast-rising waters from Beaver Creek, which killed the elderly couple, also swept away three others who were rescued by first responders.
Two more deaths were reported Tuesday in St. Louis County, which lies outside the city. Gravois Creek, near Interstate 55, flooded and trapped a woman in her car, officials said. The woman was pulled out by emergency crews Tuesday morning but pronounced dead.
A few hours later, a man’s body was also found in the creek. The victims were not identified further.
One day earlier, a 66-year-old man was killed in flooding in Ironton, south of St. Louis. The man’s vehicle was carried off a bridge by floodwaters.
The deadly storm system was also responsible for at least four tornadoes, which touched down in Arkansas and Oklahoma on Monday.
The Oklahoma-Missouri-Arkansas area has been battered with severe weather in the past week, with a series of tornadoes roaring through the Oklahoma City metro area early Sunday morning sending at least 11 people to the hospital and damaging properties.