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Flash floods kill 5 in Missouri, including 2 poll workers
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Flash floods kill 5 in Missouri, including 2 poll workers

SF. LOUIS (AP) — A couple in their 70s who worked as election poll workers were among at least five people killed in Missouri after torrential rains caused flash flooding across the state.

Up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain fell in two days in parts of Missouri, leading to widespread flooding and dozens of water rescues. It was part of a storm system and that spawned tornadoes in Oklahoma and Arkansas.

In Wright County, Missouri, a county of about 19,000 people 210 miles (340 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City, a 70-year-old man and a 73-year-old woman were in a vehicle swept away by floodwaters from Beaver Creek around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday, the State Patrol said. The bodies of the Manes, Missouri couple were found more than four hours later.

Wright County Clerk Loni Pedersen confirmed that both people who died were survey workers.

“This is a tragic loss for Wright County,” Pedersen said in an email. “They were dedicated citizens who valued fair and honest elections.”

Three people in two other cars swept away by the fast-rising creek were able to swim to safety, the patrol said.

Two other deaths were reported in St. Louis. Firefighters were called Tuesday morning after a submerged SUV was spotted near flooded Gravois Creek near Interstate 55. Crews broke open the hatch and pulled out a woman, who was pronounced dead, a fire protection district spokesman said Lemay, Jason Brice.

Hours later, a man’s body was found in the same flooded creek, Brice said. Authorities were investigating how the body got there. Fire crews rescued 10 other people from flooded vehicles, Brice said.

On Monday, Missouri state troopers recovered the body of a 66-year-old man after a car was thrown from a bridge in Ironton, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of St. Louis.

The National Weather Service said four probable tornadoes, and possibly more, touched down in parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas on Monday. No deaths or injuries were reported from the tornadoes.

Keli Cain, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said damage assessments are ongoing.

The storms hit a day after tornadoes injured at least 11 people in the Oklahoma City area of ​​central Oklahoma.

Cain said the department worked with the Oklahoma State Board of Elections to make sure polling places were not disrupted.