Devastating floods in Kentucky have killed 25 people and the death toll is expected to rise, the southern U.S. state’s governor said Friday as rescue workers continued their search for survivors.
Torrential rain earlier this week caused unprecedented flash flooding in eastern Kentucky, a poverty-stricken region.
“We have some tough news today from eastern Kentucky where we are still in the search and rescue phase. Our death toll has risen to 25 lost and that number is likely to rise,” Gov. Andy Beshear tweeted. who had previously put the death toll at 16.
“To everyone in eastern Kentucky, we will be here for you today and in the weeks, months and years to come. We will get through this together,” he added.
Beshear previously said hundreds of people had been rescued by boat since the floods began Wednesday night, while National Guard helicopters conducted dozens of air rescues.
Some areas reported more than 20 centimeters of rain in 24 hours.
The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River near Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet in a matter of hours, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.
The floods turned many streets into rivers, and some houses in low-lying areas were almost completely submerged, leaving only their roofs visible.
The weather offered respite on Saturday, but more rain was expected for the following day.
“As a cold front moves south, the area will remain mostly dry to this day. The dry weather is expected to end Sunday afternoon when a boundary lifts back north into the region,” the National Weather Service office in Jackson, Kentucky tweeted.
The floods in eastern Kentucky are the latest in a series of extreme weather events that scientists say are a dead giveaway of climate change.
Almost 60 people were killed by a tornado in western Kentucky in December 2021.
President Joe Biden has issued a disaster declaration for the Kentucky floods, allowing federal assistance to complement state and local recovery efforts.
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