At least 10 dead in Missouri storms, with some still missing

Flood warnings remained in effect across parts of Missouri and southeast Kansas as a deadly winter storm began moving out of the area overnight, leaving at least 10 dead.

Gov. Jay Nixon said Monday that number was expected to rise.

“It has been a very difficult several days,” Nixon said, “and this event is clearly not over.”

The mayor of St. Louis declared a flood emergency in response to the rising Mississippi River.

The river was nearly 7 feet above flood stage and expected to rise another 8 feet before cresting Thursday. That would make it the second-highest reading ever, topped only by the 1993 flood.

The Kansas City area escaped the brunt of the storm, but still got its first real taste of winter this season.

While weather conditions across the region were expected to improve through the rest of the week, major flooding was likely to continue through early Thursday along the Spring River above Baxter Springs, Kan., before the river was finally expected to fall below flood stage.

Continued flooding was also expected along the Elk and White rivers in Missouri, after effects of a powerful winter storm that some dubbed Goliath, which killed dozens from Texas, to the nation’s mid-section, and snarled traffic from the Great Lakes region to the Northeast.

While the twisters Goliath set off proved the most lethal in North Texas, killing 11 people in the Dallas area, rising waters from heavy rains were the leading cause of storm-related deaths in southern Missouri.

To alleviate some of the flooding, the flood gates were opened on the dams at Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake.

The Missouri Highway Patrol on Monday said nine people drowned over a weekend that brought some parts of the state as much as a foot of rain.

Six drowned in two separate incidents on Saturday. Four of those victims died after their vehicle was washed off Missouri Route U near Crocker.

Pulaski County Sheriff Ronald Long said the victims were four soldiers from another country who were temporarily stationed at nearby Fort Leonard Wood. Their names and nationalities were not released, pending notification of relatives.

A witness told authorities that the men’s vehicle was swept downstream after entering a flooded road.

Long said it’s possible a fifth person was in the car, but that had not been confirmed.

Two others drowned Saturday when their vehicle was washed off Missouri Route O near Dixon. The patrol did not release further details.

Then on Sunday, Steven L. Welton, 42, of Springfield drowned after his vehicle was washed off Missouri Route CC at Simms Branch Creek in Greene County.

Two drowning victims were also recovered in Douglas and Dallas counties, Highway Patrol Superintendent J. Bret Johnson told the news media Monday, but provided no other details.

Strong winds felled trees and downed power lines. In the Springfield area, a tow-truck driver, 60-year-old Edward Kammerer, was electrocuted when he came in contact with a downed wire while trying to retrieve vehicle that had gone off the roadway.

The high water also washed away a stretch of train tracks in southwest Missouri Sunday morning, causing at least nine cars to topple onto their sides. A spokesman for the BNSF Railway said the tracks washed away Sunday morning after crews stopped the train because of flooding along the line. He said teams arrived at the scene Monday to assess the damage.

Williams said the train was headed eastbound from California. The derailed cars were transporting about 30 containers. No hazardous materials were involved.

During the worst of the storm, more than 180 Missouri roads were closed by flooding, including a section of the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 in St. Charles County west of St. Louis.

I-49 was still closed Monday morning near Carthage, where a church sheltered 75 flooding victims.

Emergency crews responded to dozens of water rescue calls as levels rose. Firefighters from the Kansas City Fire Department and the Central Jackson County Fire Protection District traveled to the area to provide assistance.

The team of 22 firefighters rescued seven people while in Joplin, Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi said, and were returning to Kansas City Monday night.

The McDonald County emergency management director told The Joplin Globe that the town of Noel, Mo., was nearly surrounded by floodwaters on Sunday.

The Elk River was expected to crest at 27.5 feet on Monday, just a foot below its highest point 75 years ago.

“We are going to have a massive amount of road and bridge damage throughout the county,” Gregg Sweeten told the newspaper.

High waters also knocked out a sewer lift station serving a couple of thousand homes in southwest Joplin, where 8.6 inches of rain fell in 72 hours. Workers were attempting to restore service Monday and residents were being asked to limit sending things down the drain by curtailing dishwashing, showering and even flushing the toilet.

A city spokeswoman told The Star that could last until Wednesday, when a temporary fix is made. The lift station will have to be replaced, she said, but she did not have a cost estimate.

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 5:32 PM with the headline "At least 10 dead in Missouri storms, with some still missing."