At least 16 people dead after flash flooding in Kentucky

Kentucky: rescue teams deployed after deadly flash floods

At least 16 people have died in widespread flash flooding in Kentucky, including families with children, a toll the authorities expect to rise on Friday as extreme weather hits several states.

The Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, said on Friday morning he expected to receive a federal state of emergency declaration later in the morning, which gives state governors extra powers and access to special funding to deal with such a catastrophe, and has been in contact with the White House.

He announced the latest death toll after visiting affected areas but added on Friday morning: "I expect that number to more than double, probably even throughout today."

"This comes on the back of the worst tornado disaster we have ever seen," Beshear told CNN on Friday morning, referring to the western part of the state being hit by deadly tornadoes several months ago.

Search and rescue teams backed by the national guard are searching for people missing in the record floods that have wiped out entire towns in some of the poorest places in America.

"There are hundreds of families that have lost everything," Beshear said. "And many 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."

The flooding has hit eastern Kentucky, while extreme weather has also badly affected parts of Arizona, Missouri with flooding, and Nevada, where parts of the main commercial strip in Las Vegas have been under water.

In Kentucky, powerful floodwaters swallowed towns that hug creeks and streams in Appalachian valleys and hollows, swamping houses and businesses, leaving vehicles in useless piles and crunching runaway equipment and debris against bridges. Mudslides on steep slopes left many people marooned and without power, making rescues more difficult.

Krystal Holbrook's family started moving possessions to higher ground long before dawn on Thursday, racing to save them from the rapidly rising floodwaters that were menacing south-eastern Kentucky.

Her family scurried in the dark to move vehicles, campers, trailers and equipment. But as the water kept rising on Thursday, killing at least eight people that day and then the death toll rising to 15 overnight into Friday, they began to worry that they might run out of higher ground.

"We felt we had most of it moved out of the way," Holbrook said. "But right now, we're still moving vehicles even to higher ground. Higher ground is getting a little bit difficult."

The same was true throughout the region, as another round of rainfall loomed in an area already hammered by days of torrential rainfall.

The storm sent water gushing from hillsides and surging out of stream beds in Appalachia, inundating homes, businesses and roads. Rescue crews used helicopters and boats to pick up people trapped by floodwaters. Parts of western Virginia and southern West Virginia were also hit by flooding.

Beshear asked for prayers as the region braced for more rain. "In a word, this event is devastating," he said.

In Whitesburg, Kentucky, floodwaters seeped into Appalshop, an arts and education center renowned for promoting and preserving the region's history and culture.

"We're not sure exactly the full damage because we haven't been able to safely go into the building or really get too close to it," said Meredith Scalos, its communications director. "We do know that some of our archival materials have flooded out of the building into Whitesburg streets."

Meanwhile, dangerous conditions and continued rainfall hampered rescue efforts, the governor said.

"We've got a lot of people that need help that we can't get to at the moment," he said. "We will."

Flash flooding and mudslides were reported across the mountainous region of eastern Kentucky, western Virginia and southern West Virginia, where thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain over the past few days, with additional flooding that is more extreme than usual still being possible.

Poweroutage.us reported more than 33,000 customers without electricity in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia, with the bulk of the outages in Kentucky.

Rescue crews worked feverishly to try to reach people trapped by the floodwaters.

"There are a lot of people in eastern Kentucky on top of roofs waiting to be rescued," Beshear said on Thursday.

The storms hit an Appalachian mountain region where towns and houses are often perched on steep hillsides or set deep in the hollows between them, where creeks and streams can rise rapidly.

Search for Victims Continues in Kentucky After Floods Kill at Least 25

© Austin AnthonyHomes and vehicles flooded on Friday by overflow from heavy rains in Breathitt County, Ky.

The response to some of the worst flooding in Kentucky's history was entering a pivotal phase on Saturday morning, with the confirmed death toll at 25 and the search for victims poised to accelerate over a battered stretch of central Appalachia.

A cold front is expected to bring clearer weather to flood-stricken areas on Saturday, giving rescue personnel one less obstacle to contend with as they work to pluck more residents off rooftops. Nearly 300 people have been rescued in Kentucky so far, about 100 of them by aircraft, Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters on Friday.

But state officials expect the death toll to keep growing, possibly for weeks, as rescue efforts continue across rugged hills and valleys that remain hard to reach. And with rain in the forecast for Sunday, they feel urgency to make more progress before water levels have a chance to rise again.

"There's still a lot of people out there — still a lot of people unaccounted for," Mr. Beshear said on Friday, as President Biden approved a disaster declaration for the state. "We're going to do our best to find them all."

Plenty of challenges remain. One is that some Kentucky communities are either without electricity or cut off from cellphone service. According to poweroutage.us, a website that tracks power interruptions, more than 17,000 households across the state were without power as of 4 a.m. Saturday.

Further flooding is also possible. Some Kentucky creeks and rivers were still rising on Friday, and even as a flood warning in a pocket of eastern Kentucky with more than 46,000 residents expired at 10 p.m., a similar number of residents in that part of the state were under flood warnings or advisories through at least Saturday afternoon.

Kentucky flooding death toll rises to 35 as governor says hundreds remain unaccounted for

The death toll in flood-stricken Kentucky has risen to 35, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday afternoon, as rescue workers continue to comb the region for hundreds of missing people, unable to access areas left isolated after floodwater washed away bridges and inundated communities.

"More tough news," the governor said on Twitter. "We have confirmed more fatalities from the Eastern Kentucky floods. Our loss now stands at 35. Pray for these families and for those who are missing."

The death toll could still rise further, according to officials, with "hundreds of unaccounted for people" at a minimum, the governor said at a news conference earlier in the day in Frankfort.

"We just don't have a firm grasp on that. I wish we did -- there are a lot of reasons why it's nearly impossible," he said. "But I want to make sure we're not giving either false hope or faulty information."

The flooding last week swelled over roads, destroyed bridges and swept away entire homes, displacing thousands of Kentuckians, Beshear previously said. Vital electricity, water and roadway infrastructure was also knocked out. Some of it has yet to be restored, though cell service is returning in some of the state's hardest-hit areas, the governor said, which may help people connect with loved ones they've yet to contact.

"I've lived here in this town for 56 years, and I have never seen water of this nature," Tracy Neice, the mayor of Hindman, Kentucky, told CNN, saying his town's main street looked like a stretch of river where one might go whitewater rafting. "It was just devastating to all of our businesses, all of our offices."

• Discontent rising among Japan's farmers as surging feed and fuel costs threaten to throw many out of business
• UK's farmers union says industry crisis due to lockdown & cheap imports, cull of 200,000 pigs looms as staff shortage continues
• French fishing industry & farmers block fuel depots & roads in protest over soaring energy prices, gov't releases just €6 million in aid