Already 25 people died due to flooding in Kentucky: the authorities believe that the number of victims will be more

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on July 30 that the death toll from floods in eastern Kentucky increased to at least 25 and will almost certainly "increase". First responders are working on a count of missing residents. The edition told in more detail CNN.

Photo: iStock

Gov. Andy Beshear said the immediate goal is to "get as many people to safety as possible" after what officials called unprecedented flooding in the region.

In recent days, hundreds of people have been rescued by air and water by National Guard soldiers from Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, as well as officers from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state police.

“Now it is very difficult, given the scale of destruction and affected areas, to get any accurate data on the missing,” Beshear said, urging residents to report missing people.

Heavy rains caused severe flooding across southeastern Kentucky, leaving displaced families and homes, cars, and animals swept away. Here's the latest. ?pic.twitter.com/ouQF2UWQM0

- Insider News (@InsiderNews) July 29, 2022

Cell phones are still out of service in some counties, and water systems are overwhelmed, the governor said.

“We will be by your side today and in the weeks, months and years ahead. We will get through this together,” Beshear wrote on Twitter.

On the subject: How not to miscalculate with insurance for the house and not to get money due to destruction and floods

Rescue efforts were hampered by power outages, leaving more than 18 homes and businesses without power, according to PowerOutage.us.

Massive flood waters washed away homes in several counties, forcing residents to climb onto rooftops to escape the deadly flood. Officials believe thousands of people have been affected by the disaster and efforts to rebuild some areas could take years.

“This is devastating, especially after just seven and a half months ago, the western part of our state experienced the strongest tornado,” Beshear said, referring to the series of tornadoes that swept through Kentucky in December 2021 and killed 74 people.

"The water just washed them away"

Clay Nickles and his wife Mackenzie said their home in Neon, Letcher County was damaged two days ago.

Nickles described Neon as a close-knit community, "like Mayberry with Andy Griffith".

“All the residents are like a big family,” he stressed. “In such cases, usually if one or two people are hurt, everyone joins in to help. In this situation, everyone suffered."

Deaths have been reported in Knott, Perry, Letcher and Clay counties. Fourteen people, including four children, have been declared dead in Knott County, according to the county coroner.

Devastating… Catastrophic flooding overnight here in Perry County around Lost Creek, Kentucky! People are still reported to be missing! Trying to get back home, but apparently also lost my home in the flooding!

Live Storm Chasers - Chris Hall#KYwx #Kentucky #PerryCounty #KY pic.twitter.com/9O60XmXSGU

— Live Storm Chasers (@LiveStormChaser) July 28, 2022

The four children, according to their aunt Brandi Smith, were brothers and sisters. The family's mobile home was flooded with flood water, and the children had to run to the roof for safety. According to Smith, Sister Amber and her partner tried to save the children but were unable to.

“The water got so strong that it just washed them away,” she explained.

The whole church is gone

In the southeastern Kentucky city of Hazard, seven of nine bridges were impassable, an "unheard of" number, Mayor Donald Maubelini said this morning.

Among the destroyed buildings, said pastor Peter Youmans, there is a two-story church.

“All you see is cement,” he said of his Davidson Baptist church. The pastor witnessed how the floodwaters washed away a neighboring house from the face of the earth.

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“It was raining very hard,” he recalls. And then the water started to appear in the house. That's when I realized that everything is really bad, because this has never happened before.

The parishioners, Youmans noted, are helping the church at this time, but they are "now solving their own problems."

“Some of them are in the same bad condition or even worse than we are,” he laments. “We are just grateful that the house was not destroyed along with my grandchildren.”

"I'm still a little traumatized"

Meanwhile, Joseph Palumbo in Perry County is struggling to get to his house after another house was thrown onto the road along the way, blocking access.

A trailer that's been on the other side of the highway for decades now gets in the way of his house.

Catastrophic flooding in Eastern Kentucky — drone footage from Garrett, KY shot by @CharlesPeekWX pic.twitter.com/cfCMST4Xxe

— Steve Petyerak (@StevePetyerak) July 29, 2022

“I am still shocked because I have never seen anything like this in my life,” Palumbo admitted.

Because the trailer has landed on a small creek bridge, he and his girlfriend Danielle Langdon are unable to drive around it.

“We climb the stairs, we climb the tin roof, there is dirt everywhere,” Palumbo shared.

The resident of the destroyed house was not in it at the time of the flood, and she survived the storm unscathed.

“I have friends I haven’t seen in years and they offer help,” Palumbo said. “It’s very nice to see how people help each other.”

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