A SECOND body has been recovered from water in St. Louis, where dozens are trapped after record rains swept the region, killing eight people in Kentucky.
Storms and floods continue to affect parts of the US, including Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Virginia.
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A flash flood warning was issued Thursday for parts of the St. Louis area, after storms on Tuesday and Wednesday that left several people dead.
Two people drowned in the storms earlier this week.
One was found Tuesday and another was discovered Wednesday near an abandoned trailer.
Vehicles are involved in more than half of flood deaths, according to a tweet from the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency.
Residents in affected areas are urged not to travel and discouraged from driving through floodwaters.
East St. Louis is located in Illinois, directly across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri.
Both were badly hit by the floods and are still recovering.
The National Weather Service said the rain that started falling Tuesday was the most abundant since 1874, when records began in the area.
‘ENTIRE CITIES SUBMERGED’
Flash flooding and mudslides in Kentucky on Wednesday evening, eight people were killed and others were missing.
Entire towns were submerged in water with families waiting to be rescued from their rooftops when the National Guard was called in to fight the horrific flooding.
Over 6 inches of rain fell in the area last night, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
“For so many of our residents, we are currently experiencing one of the worst, most devastating floods in Kentucky history,” Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said this morning.
“What we’re going to see from this is massive property damage, we expect the loss of life, hundreds will lose their homes, and this is going to be another event that will take not months, but probably years for many families to rebuild and recover from. to recover.”
The governor said in an update Thursday evening that eight fatalities have been confirmed.
More than 23,000 people are without power as boats, jet skis and helicopters continue to search the area for people in need of rescue.
The flood has killed two people in Perry County, including an 81-year-old woman. A third person died in Knott County, Beshear revealed later.
‘GRATE TO LIVE’
A Flood survivor in Kentucky, Brianna Imhoffhad to fire a gun in the air for emergency services to rescue her, along with her husband, dogs and an elderly neighbor.
“I’m just really thankful that I’m still alive,” she told The Sun. “It’s very hard to start over, but I’m glad we still have our lives in our hands.”
Imhoff said she was awakened around 5 a.m. to the sound of water pounding on her house.
When she looked out, the yard was “completely submerged” in the rapidly rising water.
Imhoff and her husband, Austin, then waded to their neighbor’s house with their two dogs in tow.
“You couldn’t see anything but the roof,” Imhoff recalls.
EMERGENCIES
The same storm system that hit Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky moved east toward Virginia and West Virginia, where some residents were evacuated.
Others were rescued after the storm dumped about 6 inches of rain in parts of the two states.
State of emergency has been declared in Fayette, Greenbrier, Logan, McDowell, Mingo and Wyoming counties by West Virginia Governor Jim Justice.
“We were prepared for this. We knew this rain was coming and our people had to be super, super careful,” Justice said.
“We reached out to emergency management officials across the state this morning and determined that we had several counties that needed this emergency declaration, but we’re just thankful it wasn’t worse.
“Fortunately, we have not yet seen any major life-threatening effects from these storms.”
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin took similar steps, declaring a state of emergency in the western parts of the most affected state.
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