Updated: 11:46 a.m. Friday

ST. LOUIS -- Flooding has caused the closure of roads and schools after steady and heavy rain dumped up to four inches of water on the St. Louis area as a slow-moving weather system continues to pass through.

Meteorologists say that an inch of rain fell in the St. Louis area in just a half hour overnight. The rain will continue today with temperatures that started at 68 degrees at 5 a.m. and will continue to fall all day.

Road closures are causing headaches for motorists as creeks and rivers have topped their banks and backed up into streams and drainage ditches. Fender benders are keeping emergency crews busy because of the rain covered roads.

At least five rural roads have been shut down as water covered the roads in St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln and Warren counties in Missouri and in St. Clair and Madison counties in Illinois.

A flash flood warning is in effect for the greater St. Louis metropolitan area until this evening. Rainfall this had already surpassed the record for October before the rain began this week. About a foot of rain has fallen so far this month.

As of 6:32 a.m., school officials have closed or shortened school days because of the flooding. Those schools closed are Belleview R-3, Potosi R-3,Silex R-I and South Iron R-1. Winfield R-4 will open an hour late.

According to police and the Missouri and Illinois transportation departments, the following roads are affected by flooding:

* Flooding closed Illinois Route 161 near Scott Air Force Base about 7 a.m. today and the highway remained closed at 11:30 a.m., Illinois State Police said.

* Prichard Farm Road between Creve Couer Mill Road and Earth City Expressway in Maryland Heights is not passible because of water on the road.

* The northern portion of Creve Couer Mill Road between Prichard Farm Road and the Maryland Heights Expressway at the north intersection closest to Harrah's Casino is flooded in Maryland Heights.

* The southern portion of Creve Coeur Mill Road between Page Avenue (Highway 364) and the southern intersection of Maryland Heights Expressway on the rear side of Creve Coeur Park is under water in Maryland Heights.

* The two right lanes are closed on westbound Interstate 55/70 at Exchange Avenue in East St. Louis near the Interstate 64 interchange because of water on the road.

* Water is covering Missouri highways N and C in St. Charles County. Highway N at Weiss Road is closed because of flooding.

* Cuiver River is out of its banks and is covering Missouri routes H and BB.

* Missouri Route A in Warren County also has water over the road.

* Water is covering Highway 94 from Defiance to Matson Hill. Motorists are urged to use caution.

The roads have been extremely slick as the rain continues to fall.

At 5:24 p.m. Thursday, the wet road was to blame for a three-vehicle crash on Highway 141 at Highway 21 in Jefferson County. In the crash, a 1999 Chevrolet pickup began to slide on northbound Highway 21, hit an electrical pole. The pickup then hit two vehicles that were stopped in traffic. Chelsea E. Duroso, 19, of House Springs, was driving one of those cars -- a 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier -- and was injured. She was taken by ambulance to St. Anthony's Medical Center, but the extent of her injuries has not been released.

In Illinois, mud kept a state trooper from being able to determine how much damage was done to a pickup. At 7:54 p.m. on Thursday, a 2006 pickup hit a puddle of rainwater in Jersey County and left the road.

The trooper reported that David A. Wock, 53, of Jerseyville, was driving west on Crystal Lake Road, just east of Maple Summit, when his pickup ran through water on the road and into a ditch. The truck traveled 410 feet before it became stuck in mud.

"Due to the amount of mud on the vehicle, any possible damage could not be assessed," according to the trooper.

Wock was not injured in the crash.

At 5:45 a.m. today in Franklin County, a 49-year-old Labadie woman driver hit a large patch of mud on Old Highway 100 about a mile east of 5th Street. The mud made the woman -- Joy E. Hernandez -- lose control of her Buick and skid off the road. The Buick hit a retention wall, swerved and hit a second retention wall and ended up in a ditch. Hernandez was taken by ambulance to St. John's Mercy Hospital in Washington, Mo.

The rain will continue through tonight with possible clearing skies by Saturday. A sunny day is tentatively forecast for Sunday.