Saturday`s declaration also permits the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts. The help comes as state officials in Missouri and nearby Illinois toured the hardest-hit areas to survey the wreckage of homes and entire towns in the American heartland.
The flooding was fueled by more than 25 centimeters of rain over three days in the past week, bursting banks on the Mississippi, Meramec and Missouri rivers.
By Saturday, two main interstate highways reopened south and west of St. Louis, and some residents were allowed to return to their homes.
But forecasters warned that regions farther south still faced flooding as swollen rivers continued to rise Saturday.
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