The heavy rains that pelted Southeast Missouri Monday nearly claimed the lives of four members of a Sikeston family whose car overturned in a rain-swollen ditch Monday night along a county road.

They were pulled to safety by a motorist who was being credited with saving their lives.

The most seriously injured of the four was an infant, Josh T. Neal. He is the son of Robert N. Neal, 22, and Connie S. Neal, 21, who sustained minor injuries. The other passenger was their nephew, Lorne B. Thompson, who was listed in fair condition at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

All four were taken to the hospital after the 6:43 p.m. accident on Scott County Road 450, four miles north of Sikeston.

The two adults were treated and released. The children were kept in the hospital for observation.

A spokeswoman for the Missouri Highway Patrol said the Neal vehicle, a late-model Geo, skidded off the left side of a wooden one-lane bridge and overturned in 3 to 4 feet of water. The patrol said the car was almost completely submerged, and the seat-belted occupants were unable to get out.

Woodrow Wilson Jr. of Route 2, Sikeston, and his wife and stopped their vehicle to allow the Neals to cross the bridge. The 28-year-old Wilson helped Robert Neal escape from the vehicle first. Told by Neal that there were others in the car, Wilson then pulled out Connie Neal. She was carrying the infant.

Sgt. H.R. Harris of the highway patrol said Wilson brought the 4-year-old Thompson boy to the surface as many as four minutes after the car plunged in the ditch. He was not breathing, but a woman who lived down the rural road a few miles was summoned to revive him with CPR.

Harris said Wilson almost certainly saved the lives of Connie and Josh Neal and the Thompson youth.

More than 2 inches of rain fell on Cape Girardeau and the vicinity Monday, flooding some low-lying areas and forcing a number of schools to close west of the city.

The rain began at 1:30 a.m. and continued in heavy and moderate amounts that tapered off about noon. A flash flood warning issued by the National Weather Service for all of Southeast Missouri expired at 3 p.m.

The total precipitation recorded Monday at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport was 2.54 inches at press-time.

The forecast for Monday night was for rain and scattered thunderstorms with brief heavy periods of rain ending around midnight. Temperatures were expected to drop as low as 25. Freezing drizzle and light snow also were expected in some parts of Southeast Missouri.

No accidents in the city Monday were attributed to flooding conditions. All Cape Girardeau streets were passable by Monday afternoon after a few early morning closures.

Water temporarily closed the 2000 block of Good Hope Street, and intersections of Pacific and Independence streets, and Broadway at Caruthers Avenue were flooded.

"We've been walking on egg shells all morning," said Wayne Moore, superintendent of the Storm Water Division for Public Works.

The worst flooding occurred along Cape LaCroix Creek in sections of Arena Park. Baseball and softball diamonds in the area were covered with water, and a minor amount of water entered the tunnels beneath the A.C. Brase Arena Building.

There also was some flooding on Rear Broadview, also known as Optimist Drive.

Kevin McMeel, assistant Public Works director, said Cape LaCroix Creek was running "as full as I've ever seen it before." But McMeel said the work already completed along the creek in the past year as part of the $35 million Cape LaCroix/Walker Branch flood control project had had a positive effect.

"What it's done is it's holding a lot more water," McMeel said. "...This rain probably could have done a lot more damage."

He said the problems occurred at bridges where the creek narrows, particularly on Sprigg Street and at the Walker Branch construction site on Bloomfield Road.

McMeel said the city's 25-person Public Works crew spent the day clearing off inlet grates and moving signs around to direct traffic around problem areas.

An overcharged sanitary sewer line extending south from Bloomfield Road and Shawnee Park caused basement drains to back up on Henry Street. More of the same problem was experienced along Cape Rock Drive near Meadowbrook Drive.

A small detention basin also stopped up on Keystone Drive west of Mt. Auburn Road, flooding the street.

The Bollinger County Sheriff's Department reported water over a number of roads in the county, which has a number of low-water bridges. "But it's not bad," a spokesman said.

Woodland schools sent students home at 1 p.m. Marquand-Zion R-6 schools turned their buses around shortly after they arrived at school Monday morning.

Other schools in the vicinity also closed. Superintendents said they will determine this morning whether students should stay home another day.

At mid-afternoon, Illinois State Police had closed two roads in Pulaski County Route 169 at the Karnak Spur, and the entrance to Shawnee College.

No roads were reported closed in Union and Alexander counties, although motorists were traveling through standing water in many locations.

The rain was part of a frontal system that swept across the length of the Midwest. Rainfall across Southeast Missouri varied from 2-5 inches, with the northern section recording the highest totals.

The Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau was at 22.2 feet Monday and was expected to crest Thursday at 25.0 feet.

A spokesman for the Missouri Weather Cooperative at the Cape Girardeau Airport said the unofficial Jan. 4 precipitation record for Cape Girardeau was 3.25 inches, recorded in 1950.

In pronouncing all Cape Girardeau streets passable Monday afternoon, McMeel sounded a common concern as night-time temperatures began dipping and a light mist continued to fall.

"I hope we're not going to have icing," he said.