Rain resumes in St. Louis region recovering from Tuesday's flooding

ST. LOUIS -- Parts of the St. Louis region that are recovering from record-setting rains earlier this week were under a flash flood warning Thursday as another storm moved through the area.

The National Weather Service in St. Louis issued a flash flood warning Thursday afternoon for St. Louis, a large portion of St. Louis County and part of the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis.

St. Louis police and fire officials said in a tweet that some motorists were removed from cars on flooded streets Thursday afternoon.

The weather service forecast 1-2 inches of rain and said the storm is expected to move through the region more quickly than a system that dropped more than 12 inches in St. Charles County and up to 10 inches in other areas on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Authorities said two men drowned in the earlier storm. One man's body was found Wednesday about a mile from his abandoned semi-trailer truck, which appeared to have been submerged in floodwaters, the Hazelwood Police Department said in a Facebook post.

Gateway Pet Guardians use a boat to help pet owners rescue two cats and a dog from their home Thursday on Terrace Dr. in East St. Louis, Illinois. The pets have been trapped in the home since the owners were forced out due to rising flood waters that still remain. The East St. Louis, Illinois region was hit with historic rainfall early Tuesday flash flooding many homes and vehicles.Derik Holtmann ~ Belleville News-Democrat via AP

Officers found no evidence of foul play on the man's body, police said, and an autopsy was to be performed to determine his exact cause of death. His name has not been released.

Another man was found dead Tuesday in St. Louis after his car was covered in more than 8 feet of water. The city's medical examiner identified him Thursday as 60-year-old Kumsa Heyi, of St. Louis, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The weather services said the rain that began early Tuesday was the most prolific in the St. Louis metropolitan area since records began in 1874.

The area received about 25% of its normal yearly rainfall in about 12 hours, the weather service said, and the 7.68 inches that fell in just six hours surpassed the normal amount of rain for July and August combined.