7 reported dead as heavy rains flood Missouri

The Missouri Department of Transportation said in an emailed release that the interstate is not expected to reopen until late Sunday night or early Monday.

Pulaski County Sheriff Ronald Long said in a statement late Sunday that a witness saw a auto be swept downstream after driving into a flooded roadway a day earlier.

In southern IL, authorities said three adults and two children drowned Saturday evening when the vehicle they were riding in was swept away and sank in a rain-swollen creek.

Over the weekend, eight people died in flash flooding, including four worldwide soldiers temporarily stationed at Fort Leonard Wood for training.

Long added that it’s possible that a fifth person was in the auto because an acquaintance of the soldiers’ is missing.

In response to the snowstorm, the governor declared a state of emergency.

On the other side of the state, travel was discouraged throughout the entire Texas Panhandle – a 26-county area covering almost 26,000 square miles – because blowing and drifting snow had made the roads impassable.

Other tornadoes touched down in nearby Collin and Rockwall counties.

The area is already grappling with the effects of several tornadoes, including a twister in Garland that killed eight people.

In Tennessee, the year-end storms killed at least three – a 22-year-old man in Rhea County and a 70-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman in Perry County.

Gov. Jay Nixon has issued a state of emergency in Missouri on Sunday, Dec. 27, as heavy rain, flooding and flash flooding continue to impact much of the state.

Farther east, the weather service says embedded thunderstorms will continue through Monday afternoon and drop 3 to 8 inches of rain from south of Jefferson City to St. Louis.