Flash flooding overnight on Sunday in Jefferson City caused several water rescues, property damage and flooding into the city's ice arena that caused the ice to melt. It also may have caused a death.
Authorities were called to Wears Creek in Washington Park around 9 a.m. Monday for a report of a dead body found in the creek.
The body was found in some debris near the bridge that crossed from the parking lot for the ice arena over to Vivion Field.
Officials with the Jefferson City Parks Department said the body was found by workers who were checking for debris near the bridge.
Fire Department personnel gained access to the creek with an inflatable water craft to retrieve the body from the creek. It took fire personnel approximately 20 minutes to remove the body from the creek.
Police officials said they don't believe there was any foul play involved, and they had no idea why this person was in the park during the early morning hours of Monday.
Detectives were not ruling out high flood waters Monday night as the cause of death.
The name of the deceased was not released pending notification of relatives.
Ice arena flooded, closed
Flood water inundated the Washington Park Ice Arena overnight Sunday, melting the arena's ice and leaving debris. It could be a month before it fully reopens, parks officials said.
The structure is in the flood plain, but parks officials believe this is the first time that's happened.
Heavy rains Sunday night and Tuesday morning caused the flooding along Wears Creek, which runs by the ice arena.
Park Resources and Forestry Division Director JJ Gates said they never lost power at the arena.
"Our work crew came in to check on things like they normally do around 5:15-5:30 a.m., and they found the arena full of water," he said.
Gates said the structure is built to withstand flooding since it was built in a flood plain, and the integrity of the building is sound.
"We estimate that the water got up between three to three-and-a-half feet in the arena," he said. "The water was warm, so when it hit the ice it didn't take long to melt. All four compressors were working when we came in but just couldn't keep up."
Gates said it would take a week to get all the debris out of the arena and a month before they can have normal activities take place.
"We had activities lined up, hockey leagues and an ice theater scheduled," he said. "This didn't happen in 1993 since we weren't open at the time of the flood then, and that flooding was because of backup from the Missouri River. What happened here was because of flash flooding."
Monday afternoon, the Parks Department launched a Facebook page entitled Washington Park Clean-Up.
Parks officials said the site was set up after several individuals reached out offering to help clean up the area to get the park in working order.
Those interested in helping with the clean-up are asked to meet at the ice arena parking lot.
Projects are still being determined but may include cleaning dasher boards and glass; cleaning bleachers; remove debris and re-mulch landscaping and general debris pick-up.
Other incidents
The Jefferson City Fire Department responded to twelve incidents from midnight to 2:27 a.m. Monday morning due to heavy rains that fell in the city overnight.
The calls included two automatic fire alarms, four medical related calls, one electrical problem in a building call and five water rescue incidents due to flooding.
Four adults and two children were removed or asked to leave a residence in the 1300 block of Satinwood Drive on one water rescue incident, and firefighters also had to deal with an electrical problem in the building.
Four adults were removed from vehicles on one of the water rescue incidents. Other water rescue calls ended up with those who were stranded able to get themselves out of their vehicles safely by the time fire crews arrived.
Seven fire companies and two assistant chiefs were dispatched and responded to the incidents as they occurred throughout the city.
According to Fire Department reports, the area affected the most was Stadium Boulevard and Satinwood Drive.
Around 1:30 a.m. a Jefferson City Police Department vehicle barely made it through the intersection due to high water.
Shortly afterwards, in a nearby roundabout in the 900 block of Stadium, two vehicles were stuck in high water with water coming up to their windows.
Firefighters and emergency responders were able to safely get all those in the vehicles, including a disabled person in a wheel chair.
Another vehicle stuck in high water was reported around 1:47 at East McCarty Street and Marshall Street. The two people inside were able to get out safely by the time emergency crews got on the scene. Shortly after that call, another call for a vehicle in high water came in at Stadium Boulevard and Leslie Boulevard. There again, those inside the vehicle, which was in a roundabout, got out before crews arrived.
Fire crews performed another successful water rescue at Creek Trail Drive and West Edgewood Drive after 2 a.m.
There were also reports of unoccupied cars left in high water including at Washington Park Drive and Missouri Boulevard.
At the height of the storms over 1,600 Ameren Missouri customers in Central Missouri were without power, mostly to the east and north of Jefferson City. Company officials said the biggest issue they had to deal with Monday morning was lightning striking their equipment as well as knocked over trees. Most of those without power were back up by mid-day Monday.
Officials at the National Weather Service in St. Louis said the weather observation station at Missouri American Water Plant had nearly 4.5 inches, which they said would concur with radar estimates. Places such as Jamestown and Prairie Home had reports of between 6-8 inches of rainfall.
As of Monday afternoon the long range forecast for Central Missouri didn't have rainfall until occurring again until the weekend.