Kentucky governor: Flood death toll rises to 25

Rescue teams continue to struggle to get into the hardest hit areas, some of which are among the poorest places in America. Crews performed more than 1,200 rescues from helicopters and boats, the governor said.

Beshear, who flew over parts of the flood-stricken region on Friday, described it as « just utter devastation, the likes of which we’ve never seen. »

“We are engaged in a full reconstruction effort to get these people back on their feet,” Beshear said. « But for now, we’re just praying that we don’t lose anyone else. »

The rain stopped early Friday after parts of eastern Kentucky received between 8 and 10 1/2 inches in 48 hours. But some waterways were not expected to peak until Saturday.

Patricia Colombo, 63, of Hazard, Kentucky, became stranded when her car stalled in floodwaters on a state highway. Colombo started to panic when the water started rushing. Although her phone was dead, she saw a helicopter overhead and waved it down. The helicopter crew radioed a ground crew who got them to safety.

Colombo spent the night at her fiancé’s house in Jackson and they took turns sleeping, repeatedly checking the water with flashlights to see if it was rising. Although his car was a loss, Colombo said others had had it worse in an area where poverty is endemic.

“A lot of these people can’t recover here. They have houses half under water, they lost everything,” she said.

It’s the latest in a series of catastrophic deluges that have hit parts of the United States this summer, including St. Louis earlier this week and again on Friday. Scientists warn that climate change is making weather disasters more frequent.

As rains battered Appalachia this week, water rushed down hills and into valleys and hollows where it swelled creeks and creeks flowing through small towns. The torrent engulfed homes and businesses and ransacked vehicles. Landslides have trapped some people on steep slopes. Officials said Friday that at least six children were among the victims, including four children from the same family in Knott County.

President Joe Biden has declared a federal disaster to direct relief money to more than a dozen counties in Kentucky.

The flooding extended west to Virginia and south to West Virginia.

Gov. Jim Justice has declared a state of emergency for six West Virginia counties where flooding has downed trees, knocked out power and blocked roads. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also issued an emergency declaration, allowing officials to mobilize resources in the state’s flooded southwest.

About 18,000 Kentucky utility customers were left without power early Saturday, poweroutage.us reported.

Extreme rain events have become more frequent as climate change bakes the planet and alters weather patterns, say scientists. This is a growing challenge for disaster managers, as the models used to predict storm impacts are partly based on past events and cannot keep up with flash floods and increasingly devastating heat waves like those that have recently hit the Pacific Northwest and southern Plains.

« It’s a battle of extremes unfolding right now in the United States, » said Jason Furtado, a meteorologist at the University of Oklahoma. “These are things we expect because of climate change. … A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor and that means you can produce more heavy rain.

The deluge came two days after record rains around St. Louis dropped more than 12 inches and killed at least two people. Last month, heavy snowfall rains in the mountains of Yellowstone National Park triggered historic flooding and the evacuation of more than 10,000 people. In both cases, the rain floods far exceeded forecasters’ forecasts.

Floodwaters raging through Appalachia were so swift that some people trapped in their homes could not be immediately reached, Floyd County Executive Judge Robbie Williams said.

Just west, in hard-hit Perry County, authorities said some people were still missing and nearly everyone in the area sustained damage.

“We still have a lot of research to do,” said County Emergency Management Director Jerry Stacy.

Portions of at least 28 Kentucky state highways were blocked due to flooding or mudslides. Rescue teams in Virginia and West Virginia worked to reach people where roads were not passable.