25 Dead, Including Six Children, In Kentucky Floods As Gov. Andy Beshear Says Rescue Efforts Continue

Zachary LeemanJul 30th, 2022, 1:34 pm
 

The death toll from widespread floods in Kentucky stands at 25, which includes six children, four of whom were siblings, officials said. Hundreds of rescues by boat and air have been reported thus far, as first responders continue searching for missing residents.

In video aired on Saturday by Alex Witt, National Guard members can be seen carrying out rescue efforts by boat. Reporting from Lost Creek, Maggie Vespa revealed numerous volunteers have also joined in on the efforts, providing boats and drones to help locate neighbors.

One resident speaking to the network this week who has lived in the state since 2009 said this is the worst flooding he has seen.

“I’ve never seen anything come up that fast here. I’ve been living here, been living in this area since 2009, so we’re kind of accustomed to dealing with the water coming, but never in my life have we seen it come up that fast,” the resident said.

Drone footage captured further shows the extent of the destruction with cars nearly completely submerged in water, and a school bus pushed onto its side and nearly completely destroyed.

In an interview with CNN, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) said first responders are working as quickly as possible as rainfall is expected this week. He also said it could be weeks before a final death toll is known.

“It’s going to get worse. And I think that we will be updating it, maybe even for weeks to come. … There are still so many people unaccounted for. And in this area, it’s going to be a hard task to get a firm number of folks unaccounted for,” he said.

Beshear (D) highlighted phone numbers at a Saturday press conference for families to report missing loved ones to police, wwith different numbers for each affected area, which include over a dozen cities like Harlan, Jackson, Pike, and Lee (the numbers can be seen in the video above).

“It is a really hard thing right now with how wide the destruction is,” the governor said.

Watch above via MSNBC

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.