© Michael B. Thomas / Getty ImagesA flooded-out football field is seen at the Jefferson County Youth Association on Jan. 2, 2016 in Arnold, Missouri.
Two more levees along its course succumbed Friday, bringing to at least 11 the number of levee failures. In Arnold, Missouri, an estimated 150 homes were underwater.
Speaking in the water-logged town of Eureka, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon announced Saturday that he had signed an emergency declaration requesting federal assistance to remove debris.
"Before you can rebuild, you've got to remove the debris," he said, adding that thousands of homes and hundreds of businesses had taken in rubble from the floodwaters.
"When you see a historic flood, we are committed to a historic response," he said.
The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for at least 25 deaths, 15 of which were in Missouri.
The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood has been in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several communities to assess damage, clean up and figure out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live.
On Friday, searchers found the body of a teenager in central Illinois: Devan R. Everett, 18, who had been missing since Monday when he and another teen disappeared while driving a pickup truck.
The search continued for the other teen, as well as two men in Missouri and a country music singer in Oklahoma. Craig Strickland, the lead singer of the Arkansas-based country rock band Backroad Anthem, disappeared during storms Sunday while duck hunting.
"Our biggest concern is looking out for those who haven't evacuated," U.S. Coast Guard officer Nicholas Litchfield told NBC News.
The surge in water from the flooding was expected to hit cities further south, such as Memphis, Tennessee, during next week.
© David Carson / St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Associated PressTraffic moves freely in both directions along Interstate 44 at Highway 141 after floodwaters from the Meramec River receded in St. Louis on Jan. 1, 2016.
A spokesperson told The Associated Press that typically, 76,000 vehicles pass through the area on a daily basis.
Interstate 44, which had also been closed for two days over a 24-mile stretch, was also drying up, and reopened later Friday. A state of emergency for St. Louis County was lifted Friday.
Nixon called the flood a "devastating force."
"I've just never seen anything this high," he said.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter