( CNN ) -- Roads ripped to rubble by floodwaters up to 10 feet deep , rushing at speeds of up to 30 mph . Shattered homes near others still standing upright . One person dead , two others missing . That 's the harsh reality police , firefighters and residents were dealing with Saturday in Manitou Springs , a mountain community of about 5,000 people just west of Colorado Springs , after sudden , raging waters tore through the area . Under mostly sunny skies , crews spent the day looking for the missing and combing through wreckage wrought by floods triggered by intense rain . Locals such as Justin Blount , meanwhile , tried to make sense of what happened . He was in a Manitou Springs cafe , working on its owner 's computer , on Friday when water suddenly , perilously started flowing in front of the building . He and others -- one of them wheelchair-bound -- heard the water rushing below them as they finally got in an elevator and crept up to safety . `` It was like a raging river , a black river coming down , '' Blount told CNN affiliate KUSA , dry after his 2Â½ hour ordeal the day earlier . `` ... It was wild . I 'm still in a little bit of shock . '' His central Colorado town , at the foot of Pikes Peak , was one of several nationwide that have been impacted by wet weather and floodwaters in recent days . Showers and thunderstorms were expected from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South . In addition to a pocket of Colorado , flash-flood warnings were in effect Saturday for parts of Washington and Oregon , as well as much of New Mexico . There were flood warnings -- which are issued when water levels in rivers and other waterways rise to precarious levels -- in Oklahoma , Kansas , Arkansas , Missouri and South Carolina . Some communities bracing for wet weather were coping with the aftermath of earlier devastating floods . A flash flood watch was in effect through 9 p.m. ( 11 p.m . ET ) in Manitou Springs , for instance , given the threat that could be caused by more heavy rains . The dangers there are exacerbated by last year 's mammoth Waldo Canyon wildfire , which -- as Lt. Steve Schopper of the Manitou Springs Fire Department explained -- made the soil saturated , unstable , `` kind of waxy '' and little help in curbing rushing waters . `` It 's like liquid cement , '' Schopper told KUSA , noting that those caught up in the rocks , trees and other debris have little chance to escape . `` ... You 're not swimming out of this . It will rip your clothes off . '' Video of the mudslide showed cars sliding swiftly down an incline while others remained stranded in rushing , gray-colored water . One man was found dead beneath `` significant amounts of debris '' left on Colorado Highway 24 , the El Paso County Sheriff 's Office said . The search , meanwhile , continued for two others . In Oklahoma , floodwaters swept away and killed a man who was trying to save his daughter from a stranded vehicle early Friday . Vincent Brown was attempting to rescue his daughter who had become stranded in high water in her vehicle , Oklahoma City Police spokeswoman Sgt . Jennifer Wardlow said . Wardlow said Brown 's daughter was wading toward her father . She turned to retrieve some items in her vehicle , and when she turned back around , he had been swept away by fast-moving floodwater that had rapidly appeared in Oklahoma City overnight . In South Carolina , Logan Dale Evans was found dead in floodwater on his family property Wednesday night near the town of Central , Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley said . Evans , 23 , was found outside his vehicle , which ended up about a mile downstream , said Kelley , who added that Evans is believed to have drowned . At least two people were reported killed in Missouri this week , including a driver who was caught in rapidly rising water in McDonald County on Thursday , said Gregg Sweeten , the county 's emergency management director . The woman , thought to be in her 60s , had been trying to drive over a bridge when the water overwhelmed her vehicle , Sweeten said . On Monday , Elijah Lee , 4 , died after 6 inches of rain fell on Pulaski County , about 140 miles southwest of St. Louis . The boy was found in a vehicle swept up in floodwater that caught the community along Mitchell Creek off guard , said Sgt . Dan Crain , a Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman . CNN 's Melissa Lefevre and Emily Smith contributed to this report .
`` It was like a raging river , a black river , '' a Manitou Springs , Oregon , man says . The floodwaters there rushed through at a rate of about 140 miles , a firefighter says . 1 is dead , 1 are unaccounted for in Manitou Springs , officials say . Flood warnings and watches are in effect for states from Colorado to Manitou Springs .