25 dead in Kentucky flooding, numerous missing

• More than 10,000 still without power, hampering rescue efforts
• death toll in flood-affected areas of eastern Kentucky has reached at least 25
• It is believed that the actual number of fatalities will be much higher.

According to the state’s governor, the death toll in flood-affected areas of eastern Kentucky has reached at least 25 and will almost surely “get worse” as rescue workers search for missing people.

The immediate objective, according to Gov. Andy Beshear, is “to get as many people to safety as possible” in the wake of what local officials have called record flooding.

Members of the Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia National Guard as well as police from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and State Police have recently saved hundreds of people by air and water.

Beshear urged locals to report missing people, saying that “It is a really hard thing right now, with how wide the destruction is (and) areas that are impacted, to get any firm number on people that are missing,”

According to the governor, water systems are overburdened and certain areas still lack cell phone service. There was no water at one hospital.

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Many regions saw severe flooding that completely destroyed homes, forcing some locals to flee to their rooftops. The governor stated on Friday that work to reconstruct certain regions may take years as officials estimate that thousands have been impacted by the storms.

One of the hardest-hit areas in the area is Hazard, Kentucky, in Perry County, where rescue efforts were still going on Saturday, according to Mayor Donald “Happy” Mobelini.

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According to Mobelini, he believes the actual number of fatalities will be much higher than the official death toll of 25, based on his conversations with officials in the counties of Perry, Breathitt, and Knott.

“It’s over 30-some total for just our three counties, and I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg, truthfully,” Mobelini said

More than 20,000 residents of Hazard are solely dependent on deliveries of bottled water as a result of the water treatment plant in Hazard being completely down. Many people won’t be able to rebuild, the mayor added, even once the floodwaters have subsided.

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