PARK HILLS, Mo. – It only rained for a couple hours in St. Francois County, yet dozens of homes are now left with water damage and quite the mess.
"It was fast, it was fast," said Megan Lynch, who works at Tiny Tots Daycare in Park Hills.
Lynch captured video on her cell phone of the river rampage that appeared in her front yard.
"Downpour, and winds like crazy," said Lynch.
The road was sliced up by flash flooding. It remains closed for the time being.
Lynch said the water in her front driveway reached the top of the wheel of her SUV.
Water also seeped into the daycare's detached garage. The carpet will likely need to be replaced. They saved many other valuables inside.
"Came over during the storm and grabbed everything I could. The electrical stuff and sewing machines and stuff," she said.
Stacie Laplant's family wasn't as lucky.
She raced over when she got a call from her sister.
"She said everything is floating away, and we thought, no way," said Stacie Laplant.
A mud line marks the high water mark on three of their cars. Stacie prays at least one or two are salvageable.
"We’re hoping the truck maybe we can get, the car in the garage. It’s just going to take time for it to dry," said Laplant.
Their basement didn't fare much better.
"This house has been in the family for 50 years, and we have never ever had, never had a flash flood before. Never ever," she said.
Her greatest fear was losing her dog Sadie. At first, they couldn't find her.
"She had ended up swimming over the fence but you couldn’t see the fence at all," said Laplant.
The common link between all these families, they are thankful for what survived, and in awe of how quickly it all happened.
"When I’ve seen other places that have flooded, I know what it really really feels like now," she said.
Houses and businesses across the St. Francois County area are now doing what they can to dry out their items and find out how much this will cost them to repair.
