The death toll rose to at least 37 people on Monday, as flood waters devastated rural communities in Kentucky. Rescuers are still looking for hundreds of missing people. 

Heavy rainfall continued to cause flash flood warnings and hamper rescue efforts over the weekend and on Monday. 

“The loss is unimaginable,” Governor Andy Beshear wrote on Twitter. “Please, continue to pray for Eastern Kentucky.”

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, the governor said, that the flooding was the “most devastating and deadly” he had experienced in his lifetime.

Four children, ages 2 to 8, were drowned in the floodwaters. Their parents, Riley Noble and Amber Smith, survived the tragedy, according to NBC News.

“The water was rising so fast we didn’t have time to think or even move. It was just devastation,” Kentucky resident Angela Combs told AccuWeather.

Torrential rains also caused widespread flash flooding in St. Louis last week, killing at least one person, and trapping residents in cars and their homes. In St. Louis more than nine inches of rain fell, beating the city’s highest rainfall record, which was seven inches in August 1915, according to the National Weather Service. 

The deceased victim was found dead in a car that was buried in about eight and a half feet of water in western St. Louis. 

Flood waters surrounded multiple vehicles on St. Louis streets and threatened buildings. Videos were seen all over social media.

One resident told said that the floodwaters outside her apartment looked like a river. 

St. Louis firefighters were reportedly dispatched on about 70 different rescue assists.

One resident, Linda Roever, president of the board for the volunteer-run animal shelter, the Stray Paws Rescue in old town St. Peters, headed for the shelter when she became aware of the flooding.

She waded through four feet of water as she approached the building. Sadly, it was too late to save the ten puppies residing there, according to another board member, who told the story.

A dog drowned at Elm Point Animal Hospital in St. Charles when the basement flooded.

About 40 dogs and 13 cats were rescued from the St. Clair County Animal Control Center after the facility flooded, according to Kim Vrooman, executive director of the Belleville Humane Society.

A portion of a building at the St. Louis Zoo collapsed in the middle of the night, but no animals or people were injured.