NASHVILLE, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma man died early Friday as he tried to rescue his daughter from a vehicle stranded by floodwaters, officials said.
The death was one of several caused by heavy rains throughout the central United States that have submerged roads and forced people from their homes, CNN reported.
Parts of 21 states were under flash flood watches or warnings Friday and the daughter was caught in her car after it was surrounded by rapidly rising water in Oklahoma City, police said.
The woman's fate was not reported, Her father's body was recovered later in the morning.
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In Nashville, authorities have conducted more than 200 water rescues.
Flooding in nearby Mount Juliet lifted a business off its foundations and moved it 30 feet. In one instance, a resident said she saw a woman and a baby float by on a mattress.
Water was reported windshield-wiper high in some low places.
The National Weather Service said between 3 and 7 inches of rain has fallen since Thursday in central Tennessee, WSM-TV, Nashville reported.
Six homes in a Hendersonville subdivision in neighboring Sumner County were flooded and children were unable to catch the bus to school, The Hendersonville Star News reported.
Kansas and Missouri, which have already seen up to 10 inches of rain this week, were expecting more this weekend.
The Gasconde River at Jerome, Mo., rose to 33.83 feet, Accuweather reported Friday, breaking a 30-year-old record of 31.34 feet.
Some 50 homes have been destroyed and hundreds of others flooded in the state's Pulaski County, the local sheriff said. Gov. Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency.
A 23-year-old man in South Carolina was found dead in floodwaters Wednesday and at least two people in Missouri died after being caught in rapidly rising flood waters, officials said.
In the Upper Midwest and Northeast, cooler and drier weather is expected into next week.
