Missouri's storm-related death toll rises to 10

Missouri's death toll from floodwaters fueled by days of downpours has climbed to 10 and appeared likely to grow, Gov. Jay Nixon warned Monday as some communities braced for expected record river crests in coming days.

Meanwhile, the number of highways closed across the state because of flooding neared 300, including dozens in Southeast Missouri.

At least eight of the fatalities since Saturday were drownings, including four international soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood who died Saturday night when their vehicle was swept away in south-central Missouri's Pulaski County, Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said later Monday.

That came about the same time two other people in a vehicle died in floodwaters about 10 miles away.

In southwestern Missouri's Greene County, authorities said Steven Welton, 42, drowned in a creek when his vehicle was washed off a road, and tow truck driver Edward Kammerer, 60, was electrocuted by a downed power line.

Abandoned cars sit on the flooded parking lot Monday of the Imperial Youth Association Ball Fields in Kimmswick, Missouri. (Laurie Skrivan ~ St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Storm-related deaths also were reported in Dallas and Douglas counties, said Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Carl Johnson, said three body-recovery efforts still were underway in Pulaski, Polk and Jasper counties.

After storms that in some areas dumped 12 inches of rain since Saturday, Nixon said the death toll "brings a level of sadness to the duty you have to do."

"We're a long way from the finish of this, and I would ask people not to lose their focus here," Nixon said a day after declaring a state of emergency in the state.

Nixon urged motorists to avoid driving into flooded roadways, even those with just a couple of feet of water. He said fast-moving water near southwestern Missouri's Neosho lifted a train off its tracks.

Johnson said troopers as of midday Monday have responded to 32 water rescues. More than 280 state roads were closed, though Interstate 70 in St. Charles County, closed since Sunday, reopened Monday afternoon.

In Perry County, Missouri, the Chester Bridge will be closed today at noon, and several roadways in Cape Girardeau and the surrounding counties have been temporarily shut down because of flooding. in Cape Girardeau Counmty, Route A from Route U to County Road 255, as well as South Kingshighway from Route 74 to the Diversion Channel, are closed.

In Perry County, parts of Route E, Route A, Route C, Route M and U.S. 61 are closed.

Route E in Scott County and Route H in Bollinger County are closed, with more expected to close as flooding worsens.

Meanwhile in St. Louis, Mayor Francis Slay declared a flood emergency in response to the rising Mississippi River, activating the city's emergency operations center to ease coordination of flood-fighting efforts.

The river was nearly 7 feet above flood stage at St. Louis on Monday and expected to rise another 8 feet before cresting Thursday. That would make it the second-highest reading, topped only by the 1993 flood. In Cape Girardeau, the anticipated 48.5-foot crest would be the highest floodwater mark on record.

City crews closed gates in the flood wall and were monitoring for trouble spots.

Fort Leonard Wood spokesman Robert Johnson said the drowned soldiers were part of a program that brings troops from other countries to the base to study engineering, military policing and chemical defense. Their names and where they are from hasn't been released.

Record and near-record flooding has been reported in some areas, including near Joplin where Shoal Creek as of Monday was 4 feet above the previous record crest set in 2009. About 70 miles from there in Springfield, the 11.5 inches the city has received this month broke the 1895 record, said Megan Terry, a National Weather Service meteorologist and hydrologist there.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is monitoring several agricultural levees at risk of being topped, said Jud Kneuvean, emergency management chief for the corps' Kansas City district. He said people living in the affected communities are "in disbelief that they are seeing these kinds of floodwaters in December."

Scott Watson, hydrologist for the National Weather Service office near Kansas City, said the good news is the extended forecast appears to dry out, with below-normal precipitation expected over the next 10 days. He said a wintry system could bring light snow to Missouri by midweek, but rain is expected to subside after Monday.

In south-central Missouri's Laclede County, Gasconade River floodwaters forced the closure Monday of eastbound Interstate 44, prompting a 49-mile detour, the state's Department of Transportation said.

Southeast Missourian reporter Tyler Graef contributed to this report.