“We still have a lot of searching to do,” said Jerry Stacey, the emergency management director for hard-hit Perry County, Kentucky. “We still have missing people.” Powerful floodwaters engulfed towns that hug creeks and streams in the Appalachian valleys and valleys, inundating homes and businesses, leaving vehicles in useless piles and smashing destroyed equipment and debris on bridges. Mudslides swept people down steep slopes and left at least 33,000 customers without power. Gov. Andy Beshear told The Associated Press on Friday that children were among the victims and that the death toll could more than double as rescue teams search the disaster area. “The hard news is 16 confirmed deaths now and people are going to go up a lot,” the governor said during a late-morning briefing. He said the deaths were in four eastern Kentucky counties. Homes along the Gross Loop off KY-15 are flooded with water from the North Fork of the Kentucky River on July 28, 2022. Arden S. Barnes/For The Washington Post via Getty Images Emergency crews performed nearly 50 air rescues and hundreds of water rescues Thursday, and more people still needed help, the governor said. “This is not just an ongoing disaster but an ongoing search and rescue. The water is not going to crest in some areas until tomorrow.” Determining the number of missing is difficult with cellphone service and power out throughout the disaster area, he said: “It’s so widespread, it’s a challenge even for local officials to put that number together.” More than 200 people have sought shelter, Beshear said. He deployed National Guard troops to the hardest hit areas. Three parks set up shelters, and with property damage so extensive, the governor opened an online portal for donations to victims. President Biden called to express his support for a long recovery effort, Beshir said, predicting it will take more than a year to fully rebuild. “It’s the worst we’ve had in quite some time,” Friley told WKYT-TV, “It’s across the county again. There are quite a few spots that are still inaccessible to rescue crews.” Perry County dispatchers told WKYT-TV that floodwaters washed away roads and bridges and knocked homes off their foundations. The city of Hazard said emergency crews were out all night, urging people on Facebook to stay off the roads and “pray for a break in the rain.” More rain on Friday lashed the region after days of torrential downpours. The storm sent water gushing from hillsides and pouring down streambeds, flooding roads and forcing rescue crews to use helicopters and boats to reach trapped people. The flooding also damaged parts of western Virginia and southern West Virginia, an area where poverty is endemic. “There are hundreds of families that have lost everything,” Beshear said. “And a lot of these families didn’t have much to begin with. And so it hurts even more. But we’re going to be there for them.” Poweroutage.us reported more than 33,000 customers were without power Friday in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, with most of the outage in Kentucky. Van Jackson checks on his dog, Jack, who was stranded in a flooded church after a day of heavy rain in Garrett, Kentucky, July 28, 2022. Pat McDonogh/USA Today Network via Reuters Rescue crews also worked in Virginia and West Virginia to reach people in places where roads were impassable. Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency in six counties in West Virginia where flooding downed trees, caused power outages and closed roads. Gov. Glenn Youngkin also declared an emergency, enabling Virginia to mobilize resources to flooded areas of southwest Virginia. “With more rain expected in the coming days, we want to lean forward by providing as many resources as possible to help those affected,” Youngkin said in a statement. While some flooding receded after peaking Thursday, the National Weather Service said flooding remained possible into Friday night in places across the region. The hardest-hit areas of eastern Kentucky received 8 to 10 1/2 inches in a 48-hour period that ended Thursday, said Brandon Bonds, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson. Some areas saw more rain overnight, including Martin County, which was pounded with another 3 inches or so, leading to a new flood warning on Friday. The North Fork of the Kentucky River rose to break records in at least two places. A river crested at 20.9 feet (6.4 m) at Whitesburg, up 6 feet (1.8 m) from the previous record, and the river peaked at 43.47 feet (13.25 m) at Jackson, said Bonds. Bonds said some places could see more rain on Friday afternoon and start to dry out on Saturday “before things pick up again on Sunday and next week”. Krystal Holbrook already had enough Thursday as her family ran through the night to move vehicles, RVs, trailers and equipment as floodwaters threatened the southeastern Kentucky town of Jackson. “Higher ground becomes a little difficult” to find, he said. In Whitesburg, Kentucky, floodwaters entered the Appalshop, an arts and education center known for promoting and preserving the area’s history and culture. “We’re not exactly sure of the total damage because we weren’t able to safely enter the building or really get very close to it,” said Meredith Scalos, director of communications. “We are aware that some of our archival materials have been flooded from the building on the streets of Whitesburg.”
