At least one man and one woman have died and six more are missing after flash floods hit northern Johnson County
Kentucky State Police Trooper Steven Mounts said emergency personnel in the hardest-hit neighborhoods in Johnson County struggled with the debris and difficult communication as they went door-to-door Tuesday, searching for those who might be trapped in their homes.
Some people were rescued from trees they climbed to escape the floodwaters, according to county Sheriff Dwayne Price. The missing range in age from 22 to 74.
Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby has identified the two people whose bodies have been found as 65-year-old Herman Eddie May Sr. and 74-year-old Willa Mae Pennington, both of the Flat Gap area.
Authorities called off the search about 8 p.m. Tuesday, with plans to resume Wednesday morning.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency to give local officials immediate access to state resources to assist in recovery efforts.
The search area stretches more than eight rugged miles, from the town of Flat Gap south to Staffordsville - an area with 500 homes and 1,200 residents about 120 miles east of Lexington, police said at a Tuesday morning news conference. Authorities estimate more than 150 homes were destroyed.
Robbie Taylor, left, stares at the swollen creek which destroyed the trailer he shares with his girlfriend Markita Trent, right, after deadly flooding in Flat Gap
Vehicles, trailers and homes were destroyed in the floods, as the threat of more water hinders search efforts
'I grabbed my keys and my purse and went out to get my car and it was floating down the creek.'
The water swept up Hardin's trailer, her two cats still inside, and smashed it into a growing heap of mangled debris: other wrecked cars, snapped trees, downed power lines and mobile homes.
'One started and then they all just followed, and started piling into each other,' she said.
Mobile homes and vehicles were strewn across a mud-filled property after floods hit Johnson County outside Painstville
Scott Johnson, 34, had already saved his father, his uncle and sister when he returned to their cluster of trailers for his grandmother and teenage nephew.
He started to carry them to higher ground, but when the flood raged out of control, he wedged his nephew into a high tree before the water washed him and the grandmother away.
The grandmother, Pennington, was found dead among debris from their shattered mobile homes, Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby confirmed. Scott Johnson remains among the missing. The nephew survived.
May, the other confirmed victim, was driving alone in a sport-utility vehicle when floodwaters from the Patterson Creek started to sweep him away. He drowned after he got out and was swallowed by the rising water.
Hebert Hayden, 78, left home with his wife for a doctor's appointment. While they were away, their mobile home was swept from its foundation and crashed nearby. They lost everything.
'All I can say is God was on our side,' he said. 'If we would have been here, we would have drowned.'
Those caught in rushing tides had seconds to make a decision. Hardin sprinted up a hill, as utility poles crashed down around her.
Residents of a mobile home park searched through belongings that had been scattered across the neighborhood after the floods
Hardin, who is staying now with her father, had still not found her cats Tuesday afternoon, and feared she never would.
'I don't think anything else is going to be salvageable,' she said.
Authorities worried that the muddy, rushing creek, still swollen on Tuesday, had not finished its destruction.
A strong thunderstorm was passing through the area Tuesday evening, dumping heavy rain and lashing the area with high winds.
A house was a moved from its foundation and came to rest on the shoulder of KY 172 after the floods on Tuesday in Flat Gap
The water will have nowhere to go but into roads, yards and homes, he suspects. Many of the same areas are likely to be underwater again.
The water-logged ground also threatens to topple more power lines, trees and utility poles in high winds.
'Any more rain at all is going to be detrimental, it will hurt us,' said Bobby Moore, a Johnson County 911 dispatcher.
Moore said the flood washed away a number of rural roads and left others clogged with fallen trees and debris, forcing rescuers to turn to all-terrain vehicles to reach homes and search for residents.
A helicopter hovered overhead to aid in the search, which included more than 100 from local departments, the state police, the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Guard.
The rescue teams battled swarming mosquitoes and soupy humidity as they trudged through knee-deep muck.
'It just wears your legs out to walk,' said Gary McClure, the local emergency management director. 'You walk from here to there in that mud and you're ready to sit down. It just pulls you down.'
Authorities are trying to keep as many people off the roads and out of the area as possible. Rogers recommended that people who live in flood-prone areas find an alternative place to stay until the storms pass.
Homes there have no power or phone service, and many have been severely damaged by floodwaters.
A shelter was opened at the Paintsville recreation center, though only a handful of people were there Tuesday afternoon. Most displaced residents are staying at hotels or with family, Moore said.
'We never thought in a million years something would happen like this,' said 26-year-old Alisha Clark, whose trailer washed away with everything she owned inside. Yet she said she was grateful that she and her children made it out alive.
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