Multiple looters have been arrested in Perry County as dozens reports of looting plaguing the region, as eastern Kentucky continues its recovery efforts from devastating flooding.
Perry County Sheriff Joe Engle told the Lexington Herald-Leader that six looters have been arrested in his county.
“We’ve called and asked for extra law enforcement personnel,” Engle told the newspaper. He added that Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky National Guard are responding to the area to assist with patrols.
Breathitt County Sheriff John Hollan said his office has received nearly 20 reports of looting and stealing, he told LEX18.
A curfew has been instituted to help curb the theft in Breathitt and other counties, as well as some cities in eastern Kentucky, including Hindman in Knott County.
“We had a curfew that went into effect last night at 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. in the mornings and it will last until we lift it. At this time, we have no idea how long that will be,” Hollan told the television station.
The Lost Creek area of Breathitt County, about five miles south of Jackson, has been hit the hardest by looters, Hollan said.
“The 223rd Military Police will be patrolling in the county, due to the imposed curfew and looting,” he said.
The looting has become so prevalent in some areas that residents are refusing to leave their homes for fear of losing what the flood waters left them.
“It’s also sad because people have been coming from out of the area to be like vultures and loot,” Zack Hall, a flood survivor who is also the tourism director for Knott County, told NBC News.
“People who do have a path out now feel like they have to suffer and sit in their house with no power to make sure no one gets into it,” Hall said. “My uncle, who is diabetic, is watching our entire family’s property to make sure nobody gets into them.”
Hall noted that looters are blatantly stealing from homes.
“People drive up to people’s yards, put things in their cars and drive away,” he said. “We are one of the lowest income areas in the country. People don’t have much, and what got washed away they lost and what they have left is taken.”
It’s unclear how many looting reports have been received in Knott County.
(Photo courtesy of the Associated Press)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
