At 7:32 p.m. on Friday, June 14, 1957, the first of five squall lines hit St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· area, leading to the most intense period of rain St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· has ever seen.
More then 2 1/2 inches of rain fell in the first hour alone. By the time it was all over 14 hours later, 8.74 inches of rain had fallen downtown. The storm would leave 11 people dead.Â
In some areas the rain was even more intense.
Millstadt in St. Clair County got 15.54 inches in 12 hours - the heaviest rain ever recorded in the state of Illinois. (A 1996 storm dropped 16.9 inches in Aurora, but that was over a 24-hour period.)
The rain came so quickly that it caught many drivers by surprise. The River Des Peres surged down Lemay Ferry Road, stalling cars and stranding occupants.Â
About 30 barefooted teens along Alfred Avenue in the Shaw neighborhood used nets and pans to fish out goldfish and carp that gushed out of ponds from the Missouri Botanical Garden.Â
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"I saw one boy get a goldfish about 10 inches long in his net," one neighbor said. A couple of others caught carp about eight inches long."
At the Muny, a performance of "South Pacific" was canceled when musicians and box office workers were trapped by waters that reached six feet high in the backstage area.