At least one person is dead and “a number of people” are unaccounted for after rain battered the eastern part of Kentucky, flooded streets and left people stranded on their roofs, officials said.
The region received an estimated eight to 12 inches of rain overnight. Four million remain under flood alerts across Kentucky, southern Ohio, West Virginia and southwestern Virginia where rounds of rain will continue through Friday afternoon.
“It has been a tough night and maybe an even tougher morning for so many of our residents,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Thursday. “We are currently experiencing one of the worst, most devastating flooding events in Kentucky’s history.”
The governor also said the state expects “loss of life” and “massive property damage” that will take “not months, but likely years for many families to rebuild and recover from.” A little over 23,000 people are currently without power statewide, he added.
Beshear has activated the Kentucky National Guard and signed a state of emergency, which will “unlock the resources needed and also tell the people of eastern Kentucky that we are going to be there for them,” he said.
The sheriff in Perry County, where the person died, described the flooding as something “unlike (anything) I’ve ever seen.”
Authorities have not released the name or the age of the victim, but said the person drowned.
“We’ve had reports coming in all night of people that we’ve just not been able to get to,” Perry County Sheriff Joe Engle told NBC News. “So hoping that the water will recede and come down from to be able to get them, but I’m not sure how many people still trapped.”
Perry County emergency management director Jerry Stacy told The Associated Press that “we’re just in the rescue mode right now.”
“Extreme flash flooding and mudslides are just everywhere,” he said by phone Thursday morning as he struggled to reach his office in Hazard.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., tweeted about the floods, urging anyone in need of assistance to contact his office.
“Praying for all those affected,” he tweeted.
