As the people of eastern Kentucky begin the long, arduous clean-up effort after massive flooding struck the region last week, more bodies are being recovered.
Gov. Andy Beshear on Sunday afternoon said the death toll from the flash floods had reached 28. But later Sunday, five more bodies were found, raising the number of dead to 33.
Four of the victims were found in Knott County, which now has 16 deaths blamed on the historic flood, including four young siblings. The other body was located in Perry County, giving that county six flood-related deaths.
The death toll from other counties: Breathitt County has had six deaths, Clay County two and Letcher County two.
Beshear on Sunday toured the flood-damaged area with stops in Hazard (Perry County), Leburn (Knott County), Hindman (Knott County), and Whitesburg (Letcher County).
He said 359 survivors are being temporarily sheltered at 15 shelters and at two state parks and campgrounds.
“We are still focused on meeting the immediate needs of providing food, water and shelter for thousands of our fellow Kentuckians who have been displaced by this catastrophic flood,” Beshear said. “At the same time, we have started on the long road to eventual recovery.”
Power and water outages
As of late Sunday night, there were 9,489 residences and/or businesses without power in five southeastern Kentucky counties: Perry (2,543), Letcher (2,499), Knott (2,034) Breathitt (1,913), and Leslie (275). The total number of people affected by the power outages is not known.
Twenty-two water systems have limited operations due to power outages and storm damage, the governor’s office said, while approximately 27,000 service connections are without water, affecting an unknown number of people.
Officials said approximately 40,000 service connections are under a boil water advisory and 17 wastewater systems have limited operations, primarily due to flooded infrastructure and are experiencing discharges from portions of their systems.
FEMA announces assistance
On Sunday, FEMA announced that renters and homeowners of Breathitt, Clay, Knott, Letcher, and Perry counties who were affected by the severe storms, flooding and mudslides may apply for individual disaster assistance.
Beshear said he expects additional counties to qualify for individual assistance as FEMA teams continue to assess the damage.
“I fully expect more to be added as was the process in responding to December’s tornadoes.”
(Headline photo courtesy of Reuters)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
