Kentucky flooding: Death toll rises to 28, more storms coming [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• At least 28 deaths have been reported after floodwaters destroyed hundreds of homes and vehicles in eastern Kentucky early Thursday.
• Gov. Andy Beshear announced the latest death toll Sunday night, adding it could continue to rise as rescues are still underway.
• The number of missing residents is still unknown due to cell phone service outages.

The number of deaths from massive flooding in Kentucky on Sunday climbed to 28, Gov. Andy Beshear announced, and several dozen people remained missing amid a renewed threat of more heavy rain.

Beshear has said the number would likely rise significantly and it could take weeks to find all the victims. As many as 37 people were unaccounted for, according to a daily briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

On top of that, more flash flooding was possible in portions of Appalachia on Sunday and Monday as the latest storms roll through, the National Weather Service said. Rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour were possible in some of the same areas that were inundated last week.

Beshear said Sunday that 359 survivors were being housed in 15 shelters and two campgrounds at state parks.

Beshear said state police were taking calls from worried people who can’t locate loved ones due to spotty cell phone service.

“We still can’t get into some areas to check on people,” Beshear said. “We’re doubling our National Guard. We’re going to work to go door to door, work to find, again, as many people as we can. We’re even going to work through the rain. But the weather is complicating it.”

On an overcast morning in downtown Hindman, about 200 miles southeast of Louisville, a crew cleared debris piled along storefronts. Nearby, a vehicle was perched upside down in Troublesome Creek, now back within its debris-littered banks.

With the threat of more rain, workers toiled nonstop through mud-caked sidewalks and roads.

“We’re going to be here unless there’s a deluge,” said Tom Jackson, who is among the workers.

Jackson was with a crew from Corbin, Kentucky, where he’s the city’s recycling director, about a two-hour drive from Hindman.

Several residents said their homes were inundated with water and mud na dtheir vehicles were swamped by the floodwater. Some of them were not able to salvage any belongings and are homeless.

The rain let up early Friday after parts of eastern Kentucky received between 8 and 10.5 inches over 48 hours. About 13,000 utility customers in Kentucky remained without power Sunday, poweroutage.us reported.

President Joe Biden declared a federal disaster to direct relief money to more than a dozen Kentucky counties.

Last week’s flooding extended to West Virginia, where Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for six southern counties, and to Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin also made an emergency declaration that enabled officials to mobilize resources across the flooded southwest portion of the state.

Source: AOL