16 dead from Kentucky flooding with more storms likely on way
JACKSON, Ky. — Kentucky’s governor said it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 16 people when heavy rains turned streams into torrents that swamped towns across Appalachia.
More rainstorms were forecast to roll through in coming days, keeping the region on edge as rescue crews struggled to get into hard-hit areas that include some of the poorest places in America.
The rain let up early Friday after some areas of eastern Kentucky received between 8 and 10 ½ inches over 48 hours. But some waterways were not expected to crest until today and Gov. Andy Beshear warned the death toll could rise sharply.
“From everything we’ve seen, we may be updating the count of how many we lost for the next several weeks,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “In some of these areas, it’s hard to know exactly how many people were there.”
Patricia Colombo, 63, of Hazard, Ky., got stranded after her car stalled in floodwaters on a state highway. Colombo began to panic when water started rushing in. Her phone was dead, but she saw a helicopter overhead and waved it down. The helicopter crew radioed a team on the ground that pulled her safely from her car.
Colombo stayed the night at her fiance’s home in Jackson and they took turns sleeping, repeatedly checking the water with flashlights to see if it was rising. Colombo lost her car but said others had it worse in a region where poverty is endemic.
“Many of these people cannot recover out here. They have homes that are half underwater, they’ve lost everything,” she said.
It’s the latest in a string of catastrophic deluges that have hammered parts of the U.S. this summer, including St. Louis earlier this week and again on Friday. Scientists warn climate change is making weather disasters more common.
As rainfall pounded Appalachia this week, water poured down hillsides and into valleys and hollows where it swelled creeks and streams coursing through small towns. The torrent engulfed homes and businesses and trashed vehicles. Mudslides marooned some people on steep slopes.
Rescue teams backed by the National Guard used helicopters and boats to search for the missing. Beshear said Friday that at least six children were among the victims and that the total number of lives lost could more than double as rescue teams reach more areas. Among those who died were four children from the same family in Knott County, Coroner Corey Watson said Friday.
President Joe Biden declared a federal disaster to direct relief money to more than a dozen Kentucky counties.
The flooding extended into western Virginia and southern West Virginia.
The deluge came two days after record rains around St. Louis dropped more than 12 inches and killed at least two people. Last month, heavy rain in Yellowstone National Park triggered historic flooding and the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. In both instances, the rain flooding far exceeded what forecasters predicted.
The floodwaters raging through Appalachia were so swift that some people trapped in their homes couldn’t be immediately reached, said Floyd County Judge-Executive Robbie Williams.
Just to the west in hard-hit Perry County, authorities said some people remained unaccounted for.
“We’ve still got a lot of searching to do,” said Jerry Stacy, the emergency management director in Perry County.