death The death toll rose to 30 on Monday morning, Gov. Andy Beshear said. news conference in Frankfurt talking about the flood in his condition was “by far the deadliest” he had seen in his life.
The Governor told NBC’s Meet the Press that he thought recovery crews ’bout to find the bodies for weeks, many of hundreds of them of yards maybe quarter-miles plus from where they were last.”
When reading the breakdown of killed in each county during news conference on Sunday, Beshear became visibly excited when he reached four children dead in Knott County. Their aunt identified CNN as siblings Chance, 2; Nevae, 4; Riley Jr., 6; and Madison, 8.
“It says “juveniles,” the governor said, looking at list. “They are children. oldest one is in second class,” Beshear said.
children — described as cute, funny and attractive — died after family mobile home flooded last a week, forcing them to seek shelter on rooftop, their aunt, Brandi Smith, told CNN Friday.
“They kept on them,” Smith said. of her sister and her partner. “The water has become so strong that just washed them away.”
Flood spilling onto the roads destroyed bridges and swept away whole homes — thousands displaced of Kentucky, according to the governor. it also knocked out vital power water and road infrastructure, some of what is yet to come restored.
Up to 50 bridges in Perry County are damaged and inaccessible, County Executive Judge Scott Alexander said.
“It means that someone lives on another side or several families living up our cry on another side that we still have no way access k,” Alexander said.
BUT flood watch in effect in parts of eastern Kentucky including communities of Jackson, Hazard, Pikeville, West Liberty and Morehead.
“Shower and thunderstorms containing rainfall of 1 to 2 inches per hour, at times will be result in potential for flash floods at noon, weather service office in Jackson said. “Areas where recurring incidents occur of shower and thunderstorms will be most prone to flash floods.
Monday night to Tuesday morning area could see the line of heavy rain and chance for heavy thunderstorms with the threat of harmful winds and more flash flood.
The temperature is then expected to rise, falling into the mid 80s and around the 90s on Wednesday and Thursday, according to weather service, but it will be much hotter because of humidity. heat indexes – the temperature he feels like when heat combined with humidity – expected to peak around 100 degrees in some places.
Region in desperate need of Resources
Kentucky State Police are still actively searching for missing residents in several counties and ask families to report to law enforcement if their loved ones one unaccounted for for.
Meanwhile, government officials immediately focused on providing food, water and shelter for people who were forced to flee from their homes.
Power outages and hurricane left 22 water systems operating in limited capacity, sunday news exemption from the governor office said. More than 60,000 water connections either without water or with a boil warning, he said.
Officials supervising recovery efforts say that bottled water, cleaning products and donations to the relief fund are among the most needed resources as region works towards short and long term recovery. FEMA provides tractor trailers full of water in several counties.
“A lot of of these places have never been flooded. So if they never flooded, these people won’t have flood insurance,” the mayor said. of Danger, Kentucky, Donald Mobelini told CNN on Saturday. “If they lose their home this total the loss. There won’t be an insurance check help what. We need cash donations,” he said, referring to the relief fund set up state.
federal government approved aid funding for several counties. Federal Emergency Management Agency also accepting individual applications for disaster relief from affected tenants and homeowners in of Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties, the governor said, noting that he believes more districts will added to list as damage assessments continue.
Communities face irreparable damage
Although recovery effort was still in search and rescue service phase over weekend, Beshear said in a news conference on Saturday that he thinks the loss will be “in dozens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“It one of the most destructive deadly the floods we’ve seen in our history,” Beshear said in an interview with NBC. on Sunday. “He wiped out areas where people there wasn’t much to begin with.”
And it wasn’t just personal belongings washed away by flood waters. BUT building housing archival film, etc. materials in Whitesburg, was affected with water dipping irreplaceable collection of historical films, videotapes, and audiotapes documenting the Appalachian Mountains.
“We work like hard as well as fast how can we try to save it all material … full influence, I don’t think so hit I still. i think i’m not very want think about it,” Pickering said. She noted that the Smithsonian and other institutions had achieved out offering help.
The huge losses suffered by the people of Kentucky, most likely also get psychologically traumatized, Francis Everage, therapist and 44-year a citizen of in city of Azar told CNN. While her home was spared, she said that some of her friends hurt homes or lost all their farms.
“When you put your blood, sweat and tears into something and then you see it being torn off in front of your eyes will be in the process of mourning,” Everage said. community will rebuild and we’ll be fine, but the impact on mental health will be significant.”
CNN’s Sarah Smart, Andy Rose, Lauren Lee, Raja Razek, Mike Valerio, Mark Biello, Cole Higgins, Robert Shackelford, Chris Boyett, Aya Elamrussi, Dakin Andone, Caitlin Kaiser, and Tom Sater contributed to this report.
