ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) — When a flash flood warning pushed to Dan Schult’s phone in the middle of the night, campground staff at Parks Bluff Campground along the Black River were already knocking on doors, ordering families to evacuate.
Schult said his first thought was getting his two young children to safety.
“We stepped out of the camper around 3 a.m. and saw the water was already to the steps,” Schult said. “As we got out, in the matter of five minutes, it took us to get everybody in the truck, the water rose at least another 4 to 5 inches in that length of time.”
Two alerts, two hours apart
The National Weather Service issued a considerable flash flood warning at approximately 2:35 a.m., which they explained triggers a wireless emergency alert to all cell phones in the affected area. By 4:16 a.m., the NWS escalated to a flash flood emergency, pushing a second phone alert…