JACKSON (Kentucky, US), July 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Flash flooding caused by torrential rains has killed at least 19 people in eastern Kentucky and the death toll is expected to double, the US state’s governor said.
At least six children are among the dead in the devastating rainfall that deluged eastern Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said in an update Friday.
Beshear said the number of children who died rose to six after the bodies of four young siblings, swept away from their parents’ grip by the floodwaters, had been located.
“It’s hard, it’s even harder for those families and those communities,” he said. “Keep praying, there’s still a lot of people out there, still a lot of people unaccounted for. We’re going to do our best to find them all.”
Also Friday, President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration in the state and ordered federal aid to be sent to “areas affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides,” according to a news release from the White House.
Beshear said hundreds of people had been rescued by boat and there had been about 50 aerial rescues using helicopters deployed by the National Guard. So far, 294 people have been rescued and 337 are in shelters, he added.
“Eastern Kentucky floods a lot but we’ve never seen something like this,” Beshear said.
“Folks who deal with this for a living who have been doing it for 20 years have never seen water this high.”
Some areas reported receiving more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period.
The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.
Rescue teams, assisted by the National Guard, were searching Friday for more missing people.
“We’ve got volunteers coming in to help,” Jerry Stacy, the emergency management director in Perry County, said. “That’s going to be our focus, and, you know, we do still have people missing, and we’re doing everything that we can do in our power to find them.”
It was not clear how many people were still unaccounted for Friday morning.
On Thursday, the state ordered the evacuation of the Panbowl Lake area in eastern Kentucky’s Breathitt County, where officials are worried the dam will breach.
“We have already gone door to door and around to try to evacuate as many people who are willing to go,” Beshear said. “If you’re still there, why don’t you go find a friend, a relative, somebody to stay with, go to a hotel — just get somewhere safe. We don’t want to lose any more people than we have to.”
As many as 3 million people remain under flood alerts across Kentucky, West Virginia, parts of northeastern Tennessee, southwestern Virginia and a few counties in southern Ohio. — NNN-AGENCIES
