Teen dies after SUV swept away

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. -- A 16-year-old Excelsior Springs girl died after the vehicle she was driving through a flooded crossing was swept into a creek.

Brooke Baxter's body was found Wednesday night inside the submerged vehicle in Williams Creek, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. The sport utility vehicle she was in was carried about 100 yards downstream from the crossing in Excelsior Springs.

Flash flooding was reported in Clay and Taney counties Wednesday after a storm swept through the area, but the state had received no reports of serious flooding or substantial damage, said John Campbell, a spokesman for the State Emergency Management Agency.

Gov. Matt Blunt asked President Bush on Thursday to approve a disaster declaration for eight western and central Missouri counties as a result of heavy rain, flooding and storm damage from a series of thunderstorms starting last month.

If approved, the disaster declaration would allow government bodies like counties and fire departments to seek reimbursement for emergency work and repairs for an estimated $6 million in damage to public infrastructure in the eight counties.

Meanwhile, water levels were starting to recede in parts of southwest Missouri that had been swamped earlier in the week by floodwaters flowing into the state from Kansas, Campbell said.

About six homes had water damage in St. Clair County, and some mostly rural areas still had limited access on Thursday, Campbell said.

And while most major roads, including U.S. 71 and 54, had reopened, several secondary routes around Schell City, Taborville and Rockville were still closed, he said.

The roads are mostly in Bates, Vernon and St. Clair counties, which are on the Missouri-Kansas border and have been hit by swollen rivers in Kansas, which are running into Truman Lake, he said.