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St. Louis County residents devastated by historic flooding

Basements and vehicles in Hazelwood and Florissant were completely in ruins.

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Residents woke up to their neighborhoods in shambles due to the unprecedented flooding in St. Louis County and surrounding areas on Tuesday.

Part of a street in Hazelwood was completely covered in water to the point where only the windshields of vehicles were visible.

Residents on Palm Drive stood on the porches of their homes while inside stood without power.

The street leading up to St. Sin Park and a couple of other recreational areas were rushing with water.

Some vehicles were submerged in at least five feet. Crews were deployed to do water rescues earlier that morning.

RELATED: Resources and how to help those affected by St. Louis area flooding

Many of the homes on the street have basements. Cherrai Joseph invited 5 On Your Side inside to see hers.

She splashed through the water where the washer and dryer were. A basket of laundry and other items floated.

“It just wasn’t a good morning. It wasn’t a good morning at all, so I had packed them bags. Put the animals in the car and at least got them out of the way at first. You know what I’m saying. Now I’m trying to get what I can out of the way to try to save what I can. I don’t know what to do,” Joseph said.

At the Florissant Meadows Shopping Center at Lindsay Lane and Lindbergh, delivery trucks could be spotted with water halfway up. Swift moving water rushed out over the curve while trash floated through the parking lots.

Vehicles that were left behind from the night before had been completely drenched.

RELATED: 'It looked like the end of the world': Historic rainfall floods dozens of homes in University City

Chyna Renfroe mentioned that she was trying to drive to a side street through the parking lot Monday night and ended up getting stuck. She found her BMW in ruins the next day.

“It's not even as deep as the rest of the cars but it's literally like flooded. Water damage when you open the doors. The water's falling out. What are we supposed to do now? We weren't prepared for this. Ain't no tow truck going to fit down here," Renfroe said.

In a press conference at 3 p.m., St. Louis County Executive Sam Page along with emergency management officials and the Metro Sewer District confirmed there had been no loss of life or injuries, but serious damage in the community due to the endless rainfall that hit the region.

The flooding closed county parks, shut down roads, cut off power to intersections and damaged at least one bridge by erosion.

“We are hopeful that a state of emergency from the white house comes soon. That's important to folks in our community because it allows them to have access to small business loans for businesses and allows property owners to have access to special programs,” Page said.

Anyone with damage to their home, property, or vehicle is asked to call United Way at 211 in order for the county to catalog and track damage.

RELATED: 'Water was too deep': 10 puppies at a St. Peters shelter died during flash flooding

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