During the devastating flooding that destroyed homes and drowned entire villages in eastern Kentucky, at least sixteen people died.
Gov. Andy Beshear cautions the torrential downpours may cost more lives as people prepare for more rain.
Tens of thousands are without electricity, and dozens of people were saved by boat and aircraft.
Residents, who were still recovering from the previous storm, hardly had time to flee as floodwaters tore through the neighborhood brutally and fast.
In Garrett, Kentucky, flood victim Dennis Gross told The Weather Channel’s Mike Seidel, “I lost everything twice.
“That means I’ve already lost everything twice. I’m not the only one, either.”
Since moving to Garrett in 1966, Mike and Deborah Reffert had never experienced floods on the scale of this week’s.
Deborah said, “I’ve never seen it this high.”
“It’s really awful to think of the destruction and loss,”
On Thursday morning, rescue teams worked to bring some of the stranded to safety by boat.
A creek near to an elementary school in Perry County, which was particularly heavily struck by the storm, overflowed its banks and rushed a wall of water into the structure.
Rebecca Ramey, a resident of Perry County, said to Seidel, “The water was coming over the bridge.”
“The debris is obvious.”
Beshear forewarned locals of probable destruction due to the anticipated increase in rainfall this weekend.
He declared that the crisis was still occurring and that people were still in risk. “Our mortality rate is rising.
There are also many families that have lost everything.”