Massive flooding in eastern Kentucky engulfs homes, leaves several dead

“I do believe it will end up being one of the most significant deadly floods that we have had in Kentucky in at least a very long time,” he said.

Beshear confirmed the death of an 81-year-old woman in Perry County, along with two other deaths in Perry and Knott counties.

Images shared on social media show houses submerged to their roofs, cars swept away, and serious damage to roadways and other infrastructure.

Beshear said that people were still waiting to be rescued at midday, while police searched for missing people.

“This isn’t just a disaster; it’s an ongoing natural disaster,” Beshear said. “We are in the midst of it, and for some places, it will continue through tonight.”

An additional two to three inches of rain are forecast for the affected area Thursday night, Beshear said.

Flooding was reported in numerous counties in southeastern Kentucky early Thursday, including Breathitt, Floyd, Perry, Knott, Leslie, Pike, and Magoffin.

Scott Sandlin, answering phones for Perry County Emergency Management, confirmed one death, but he didn’t have any details about the victim or circumstances.

“Our county has been devastated. We’ve just washed away,” Scott said. “It’s been the highest level of water I’ve ever seen.”

Scott, who has lived in the county for 57 years, said it had been raining for the past two to three days. The county had received 11 to 14 inches in the past 48 hours and was expecting 2 more inches of rain Thursday. People are being evacuated. He said the office has received about 200 calls from people trapped in their homes and in the mountains. Bridges have washed away.

“What we’re going to see coming out of this is massive property damage,” Beshear said. “Hundreds will lose their homes, and this is going to be yet another event that it’s going to take not months but likely years for many families to rebuild and recover from.”

Beshear issued a statewide state of emergency and activated the National Guard to assist victims and the recovery effort Thursday morning. Additional planes are coming from West Virginia and boats are being flown in to augment those from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife already conducting rescues.

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Black Hawk helicopter crews are actively engaged in rescuing people trapped on rooftops, including at a school, said Maj. Gen. Haldane B. Lamberton, head of Kentucky’s Army and Air National Guard, at the midday news conference Thursday.

The heavy rainfall was spawned by the same stalled weather front that caused historic flooding in St. Louis on Tuesday. The deluges in St. Louis and eastern Kentucky are both considered events with less than a 1 in 1,000 chance of occurring in a given year.

The city of Hazard, Ky., was among the hardest hit, with at least 9 inches of rain falling in 12 hours Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Similar amounts fell around Jackson.

Flooding also was widespread in Southwest Virginia, where water entered homes and roads, forcing evacuations and rescues. A state of emergency was declared in Wise County after a six-inch deluge. “[R]oadways across the county are impassable due to standing water, mudslides, downed trees, and other debris,” wrote the Wise County Office of Emergency Management. The flooding comes just two weeks after devastating flooding in Buchanan County in southwest Virginia.

In addition to dozens of flooded houses and businesses in Kentucky, about 25,000 customers were without power because of the severe weather.

The region where flooding is most widespread is mountainous, the downpours magnified by the terrain, which funnels water into valley towns below. In many spots, trickling streams turned into raging rivers within a few hours, allowing little time for escape.

Rockslides and mudslides also have been reported, some of which have cut off communities.

Flash flooding began Wednesday night after afternoon storms that evolved into a raging deluge. Like train cars along a track, storms passed over the same areas repeatedly. The front along which the storms erupted developed along the northern periphery of a tropical heat dome sprawled over much of the southern United States.

Extreme levels of atmospheric moisture fed rainfall totals, which were “more than double (!) the 1-in-100 average annual chance threshold, and a couple of inches beyond even the 1-in-1000 threshold,” tweeted National Weather Service meteorologist Alex Lamers.

Wednesday became Jackson’s second-wettest day on record with 4.11 inches; additional rain fell into Thursday morning.

Some of the top rainfall totals reported include:

• Buckhorn Lake, Ky.: 10.40 inches.
• Pippa Passes, Ky.: 9.27 inches.
• Hazard, Ky: 8.55 inches.
• Oneida, Ky.: 8.48 inches.
• Jackson, Ky.: 7.86 inches.

Higher amounts probably occurred, with radar estimates as high as 11 inches. The total at Buckhorn Lake was very close to the 24-hour state record for Kentucky of 10.48 inches.

The North Fork of the Kentucky River shattered its all-time record crest.

Rising to over 20 feet on Thursday morning, it easily moved past the record mark of 14.7 feet from 1957. The river level shot up 17 feet in less than 12 hours. River crests may not yet have occurred in some locations as water continues to move out of the mountains and downstream.

The extreme rainfall triggered three flash flood emergencies, each issued by the Weather Service office in Jackson. Reserved for the worst flooding situations, these emergencies are sparingly issued. They indicate that life-threatening flash flooding is occurring.

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Extreme precipitation events, tied to human-induced climate change, have increased dramatically over the past 100 years. The U.S. government’s National Climate Assessment shows heavy rainfall is now about 20 to 40 percent more likely in and around eastern Kentucky than it was around 1900.

New rounds of heavy rain are probable through Friday. The Weather Service has placed eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia under a Level 3 of 4 moderate risks for excessive rainfall.

Forecasters were expecting 1 to 3 additional inches Thursday and rainfall rates as high as 2 to 3 inches per hour Friday. In addition to ongoing flood warnings, a flood watch remains in effect until late Friday for much of eastern Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, and southern West Virginia.

By Saturday, the front responsible for the flooding is likely to move south of the region, which should lower the threat of flooding significantly.