Rescuers in the US state of Kentucky are intensifying their search for victims of the floods that devastated the eastern state and killed at least 28 people in light of bad weather, the state’s governor said Sunday.
An earlier toll had indicated that there were 26 dead. The governor announced earlier that the number of victims is likely to rise.
Some mountainous areas remain inaccessible following the floods that turned a number of roads into rivers, broke bridges and swept away homes. Rescue efforts are also complicated by poor mobile phone service.
KY Governor Andy Beshear says this is “one of the worst, most devastating flooding events in Kentucky’s history”. Multiple people are still unaccounted for and folks are being rescued off of their roofs due to high water #KYwx pic.twitter.com/5AUHPjzXvg
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) July 28, 2022
“These floods are among the most devastating and deadly we’ve seen in our history…the rain is falling while we’re trying to continue our search operations,” Governor Andy Beshear told NBC.
“We will go from house to house to find as many people as possible. We will work even in the rain. But the weather is complicating the situation,” he added.
“We’ll be finding bodies over a period of weeks, many of them shoveled up to meters away, perhaps more than a quarter of a mile from where they went missing,” he said.
The floods hit an area in the state that was mainly suffering from poverty, due to the decline in the coal sector, which was the backbone of its economy.
Beshear said that the floods “swept away areas where the inhabitants did not originally own much.”
Some areas of eastern Kentucky recorded more than 20 centimeters of rain in 24 hours.
My hometown was devastated and destroyed by the floods in south eastern Kentucky If you can’t donate please share! We are trying to get as many products to them ASAP I can meet in the Nashville area!
You can venmo money to @ericabrookeART
Even if it’s a $1 #kentuckyFlooding pic.twitter.com/2t7axHC78w— E. (@creatingerica) July 29, 2022
The water level on the north branch of the Kentucky River in Whitsburg rose to 20 feet in a matter of hours, well above the previous record level of 14.7 feet.
And the Weather Prediction Center of the National Weather Service warned Sunday of the possibility of flooding in part of the United States, including central and eastern Kentucky.
Heavy rain is once again possible across parts of southeast Kentucky today, where a Moderate Risk of Excessive Rainfall has been issued. Saturated soils will be highly susceptible to flash flooding within areas of intense rainfall rates. #KYwx pic.twitter.com/0PDqxS2WEB
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) July 31, 2022
“The risk of flash floods will increase during the day as heavy rains and thunderstorms develop and expand,” he said on Twitter.
US President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Kentucky due to the floods, allowing the allocation of federal aid to complement the state’s local rescue efforts.