Water Recedes but Death Toll Rises to 16

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(TNS) – The death toll from devastating flooding in Eastern Kentucky has risen to 16, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Friday morning.

Knott County was hit hardest, with 11 deaths, Beshear said.

There were two deaths in Letcher County, two in Clay County, and one in Perry County, Beshear said.

Jeff Combs, emergency manager for Knott County, said nine people whose homes were swept away during the intense storms early Thursday were still missing Friday morning.

There had been 18 people missing at one point, but nine who died had been found, Combs said.

Friday morning, firefighters, rescue-squad members, troops from the Kentucky National Guard and volunteers were searching for people in wrecked houses and along streams where the water had gone down.

The fear was that the death toll would rise.

“It’s beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Damage like I’ve never seen before,” Combs said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Combs said it would take weeks to assess all the damage.

Some roads around the region remained blocked by debris or rocks and mud Friday, and some places were inaccessible because the high water knocked down bridges.

President Joe Biden quickly approved a disaster declaration for the state on Friday.

In Hazard, the floodwater started to recede Thursday morning, local officials said in social media posts.

The flood damaged some businesses downtown and there were “lots of homes still without water or gas” Friday morning, according to a Twitter post.

Officials said 94 people had been in two different shelters in town, 14 at West Perry Elementary School and 80 at Gospel Light Baptist Church .

“Thanks to all those working around the clock. Our prayers to our sister cities who are still underwater,” officials said on Twitter. “God Bless you all.”

Kentucky Power, the main electricity provider in Eastern Kentucky, said 21,000 customers remained without power Friday morning, with blocked roads slowing work to get customers back online.

Most of the outages were in Breathitt, Leslie, Knott, Letcher and Perry counties, the utility said.

Workers were using drones to assess damage to power lines and more crews were scheduled to come to Kentucky Friday to help with the work, but the utility did not provide an estimate on when power would be restored to everyone.

There are likely a high number of single-outage cases at individual homes which will take time to fix.

The focus will be on restoring power first to facilities such as hospitals, emergency services and public buildings, as well as larger blocks of customers, Kentucky Power said.