Record rainfall causes widespread flash flooding in St. Louis area, including on I-70

Torrential and record-breaking rainfall caused widespread flash flooding in the St. Louis area Tuesday morning, trapping vehicles on streets, forcing rescues from homes and cars and spurring numerous road closures, including part of Interstate 70, officials said.

In St. Louis itself, more than 8 inches of rain had fallen from midnight to 7 a.m. CT -- already surpassing the city's all-time one-day record of 6.85 inches set on August 20, 1915, the National Weather Service said.

And more rain was expected before tapering by late morning, the National Weather Service's office...