Record-breaking rainfall is causing widespread flash flooding in the St. Louis region on Tuesday as Election Day voting begins.

St. Louis saw the most rain in a 24-hour period ever recorded in November on Monday, and rain is forecast to continue through Tuesday afternoon.

Metro Transit reported more than a dozen bus routes were out of service at the start of the morning commute. Authorities reported road closures in Maplewood, Creve Coeur, Rock Hill near where South McKnight Road crosses Deer Creek and multiple parts of St. Louis near River Des Peres.

Metro said limited bus service was restored by 9 a.m. on all MetroBus routes impacted by flash flooding. The agency said bus service would continue to be restored to impacted routes as floodwaters recede.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said officers responded to vehicles trapped in flooding at Skinker and Olive boulevards and at River Des Peres and Gravois Avenue. Officials said it is difficult to tell how deep water is on the road, so commuters should avoid driving through floodwater.Captain Garon Patrick Mosby, a spokesman for the St. Louis Fire Department, said as of noon Tuesday firefighters had responded to 18 incidents involving vehicles stranded in flood waters, but no injuries have been reported. Power outages

Two polling places lost electricity Tuesday. In St. Louis, Christ Southern Missionary Baptist Church on Page Boulevard was without power in the morning. The city and Ameren were working to restore electricity. In the meantime, officials were directing voters to other locations. In St. Louis County, Holy Name Community Center in Bellefontaine Neighbors had an outage. Voting is continuing with a generator, but officials are encouraging voters to go to other locations.Ameren officials said power should be restored by 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Holy Name Community Center. The company said technicians are working to restore power as quickly as possible. The 9,700 Ameren customers across Missouri who lost power early Tuesday dwindled to 3,000 by 1 p.m.

At the Christ Southern Missionary Baptist Church, workers were rushing to get a generator running to restore power to the polling place. Elections officials said workers restored power just before noon.

St. Louis Board of Elections Deputy Democratic Director Brian Sullivan said during the early morning downpours, a tree had fallen onto a power line serving the church.

A poncho-clad election worker carrying an umbrella directed voters to roll down their car windows, telling them to go approximately four blocks down Page to another polling station, at Better Family Life community center.

By 10 a.m., they had turned away around five dozen voters, Sullivan said.

“The voters have been fantastic,” he said, adding that a St. Louis law allows residents to vote at any polling place.

“When a situation like this occurs, now you can vote anywhere,” he said. “You can guide them to another location, they can cast their ballot without a problem at all.”

Down the street, Better Family Life Cofounder and Vice President of Cultural Arts DeBorah Ahmed said voters began lining up at the nonprofit in the rain before the polls opened at 6 a.m.

“What I see on people’s faces is determination to make sure they get the job done,” she said.

Voter Derrick Owens, who lives in the neighborhood, said he walked to Southern Missionary Baptist Church to vote before being redirected to the new polling station.

He said the rain didn’t cause much of an issue for him. Fighting discouragement with the voting process was more frustrating than the weather.

“Honestly it was a struggle [to come vote],” he said. “I do understand my vote is important, but I also understand sometimes it gets discouraging when you do vote, and what you want to see happen still hasn’t happened.”

Still, “I have to do what I’m called to do,” Owens said.

St. Louis County police said floodwaters appeared to be receding before 11 a.m.Cahokia Heights and East St. Louis

Some Cahokia Heights residents who have long dealt with sewer and stormwater issues had to leave their homes Tuesday morning due to the flooding. City leaders said the area received more than 7 inches of rain over the last 48 hours. Rising waters also impacted some residents in East St. Louis, and they expressed concerns that they wouldn’t be able to vote, according to Kennedy Gardner, an attorney at Equity Legal Services in Fairview Heights, IL.

“The city is pumping in one neighborhood that we know of but there are still residents with active flooding and we are unsure what is being done by the city, if anything, in East St. Louis,” Gardner said in an emailed statement just before noon on Tuesday. “We have gotten a call for one resident who urgently needs to get out of their home for medical needs.” Gardner said the city urged people to call 911 if they needed to get out, and fire officials have been conducting headcounts and rescues as the water continued rising. “But then Cahokia Heights came by later to say the residents could stay home since the water is going down,” Gardner added. “The residents haven’t seen the water going down yet. They all have bags packed ready to go in case they need to be rescued/get out.”Cahokia Heights Mayor Curtis McCall Sr. said emergency officials have been out since dawn Tuesday pumping water, cleaning catch basins and making other efforts to help. Some residents went to stay with relatives, McCall said. “City workers will continue their flood efforts throughout the day and night, if necessary,” he said.Other flooding impacts

In Rolla, flooding in low-lying areas closed roads and prevented some school bus routes from operating.

Climate change is making these types of rainfall events more extreme and more common, said National Weather Service meteorologist Melissa Delia.

“We can’t necessarily attribute one instance, one event, to the effects of climate change, but we are having these extreme rainfall events happening more frequently, and they will continue to increase in frequency,” Delia said.

The National Weather Service recorded 3.75 inches of rain in St. Louis on Monday, which almost tripled the previous record for Nov. 4 and broke a 1921 record for daily rainfall in November. Delia said it’s a big deal to break a monthly record.

“If you think about the number of days in November from 1888 until now, the opportunity to have those high values broken, it’s just rare,” Delia said.

The rain should leave the St. Louis region between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

This story has been updated.

Abby Llorico, Jonathan Ahl, Rachel Lippmann, Will Bauer and Andrea Henderson contributed to this report.