- Record-setting flooding in Kentucky and the central U.S. has forced many residents to evacuate their homes.
- Emergency management officials are urging residents to heed evacuation warnings as the situation is life-threatening.
MONTEREY, Kentucky – Rain-soaked blonde curls ringed Maggie LeMaster’s face.
The tiny girl on Sunday fled with her family after the rising Kentucky River turned their home into an island. They got on an emergency rescue boat. As the crew navigated familiar streets, Maggie looked to her mom, her grandma, and her big sister. She held on to her grandfather’s arms.
“Did you have fun?” Lisa Henderson asked her young daughter as they gathered on the roadside.
“Yeah!” Maggie exclaimed, raising her tiny right fist in the air.
The family was one of many across Kentucky and the central U.S. who have been forced to evacuate their home in recent days after nonstop rain brought by an atmospheric river triggered major, record-setting flooding in the region. At least 19 people have died amid the fierce storms and unrelenting rainfall.
More: Flooding, tornadoes slam Southeast as death toll rises: Updates
More: Frankfort mayor urges some residents to evacuate as Kentucky River builds to record crest
“This is just the beginning,” said Owen County’s Emergency Management director Larry Karsner, who helped the family of five and other families escape the rising floodwaters.
By Tuesday morning, the tributary is expected to rise 7 more feet. In some areas, the river could reach heights not seen in a century.
“A life-threatening, catastrophic and potentially historic flash flood event continues across the Lower Ohio Valley into the Mid-South,” the National Weather Service said Sunday, urging residents to heed evacuation warnings.
As streets turn to rivers, evacuations abound
About 9 miles north, in the Kentucky hamlet of Gratz, there was no way in or out.
When Chris Simon found out his employee’s house was projected to flood in the coming days, he brought his son, nephew and brother plus four kayaks to rescue possessions from the home and an elderly neighbor.
They navigated past steel drums, trash and debris floating in the muddy water as they paddled across a portion of Crittenden Street toward a nearby church.
Back in Monterey, about 60 miles northeast of Louisville, three friends helped launch Chuck Razor and his dog Bear into the river so he could paddle across to his brother’s house. Razor couldn’t find a hotel room for the night beyond an expensive room in Frankfort.
“I’ll be glad if it doesn’t rain the rest of this year,” one of his friends said, as they watched him navigate the rushing current.
Overnight, Cedar Creek, which flows into the Kentucky River, rose above the bridge into Monterey, cutting off access.
The town – population, 112 – had its last major flood on March 3, 1997, but the one referred to most on Sunday was the 1937 flood. That’s when the water rose to 56.86 feet.
Flood stage for the Kentucky River near Monterey, at Lockport, is 33 feet. It’s expected to crest Tuesday morning at 57 feet, which would exceed the record by 3 inches.
But water and residents were just part of Karsner’s concerns.
“Now we’re worried about looters,” he said. “I’ve asked the state for help, but if they don’t send any, I will sit out all night in this truck if I have to.”
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‘Again, thank you all’
They were big topics for Maggie, who continued to point out what she saw to a boy in a yellow safety vest who helped her off the boat.
Karsner guided the family to his truck. He was taking them to Owensboro, where another family member would pick them up and take them to a dry home.
After loading their luggage, he turned to Scott County’s Search & Rescue team.
“Again, thank you all,” he said. Four men in red wet suits nodded their heads – a world of understanding unspoken.
