Kentucky is suffering due to the tragic flooding that has occurred recently. Things have gotten so bad, to the point that there are casualties involved. The flooding happened and affected families in the worst possible way. Eastern Kentucky has suffered from this historic flooding as they have lost their homes and some have lost their families. “Andy Beshear confirmed that the number of fatalities had climbed to 35 on Monday as rescue and recovery operations persisted,” according to AccuWeather. What happened to make this flood so dangerous is that it happened overnight. People were asleep when the flooding occurred and by the time they were aware of the situation, it was too late to respond.
People have been searching for their family members for several days and have yet to come in contact with them. What they have experienced has probably traumatized them for the rest of their lives. Knowing that their family members are nowhere to be seen and have to speculate whether they are alive or not. ‘The first thing that went through my mind is that I didn’t know if we would be swept away or not, Willett told CNN Newsroom,’ according to AccuWeather. Since this is a natural disaster, it’s not much that could’ve been done to avoid it. If they choose to rebuild the homes, they should build them to withstand the concept of flooding.
Things have become so intense that the president has gotten involved and approved the Kentucky disaster declaration. What makes the situation worse is that the disaster happened less than a year after the tornado hit western Kentucky and destroyed people’s lives. One thing many people are still concerned about is the power outage that happened. Not only have people been missing and died, but people are struggling with the heat, and losing the good food they have stored. There is no win in this situation because while there is already flooding the added heat just makes things worse.
(Flickr CC0)
These are horrible living conditions for the people in Kentucky right now because they have nowhere to turn. Everywhere they look, they are faced with new conditions that ultimately cause them to realize their stressful life situations without remorse. As stated earlier, there is no way that these situations would have been avoided because they are natural disasters. With this being said, the death toll could still rise, with hundreds of individuals unaccounted for.
The governor has made a few statements, not to provide comfort, but clarity. He let the people know that he could not give them false hope because ultimately he does not know if everything will be ok. He also doesn’t want to give faulty information which could brew up confusion and cause riots when people find out that the information is false. That would then put Kentucky at an all-time low as they have already suffered horribly and haven’t had time to make a complete comeback from the tornado that hit in December of last year.
While the state has tried its best to make its current situation work, it is still a difficult one to live in. “All of our state roads are passable,” she said, but “we still have back roads and country roads that are broken off, and our bridges are out. So it’s really difficult to get to some of the most remote places,” according to CNN. The best bet that we have is to hope and pray for Kentucky that family members that haven’t been accounted for are reunited again. This tragic situation could never be forgotten as the people would forever suffer from trauma when waking up and seeing that they’re closer to drowning
Written by Michael Williams
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
CNN: Kentucky flooding death toll rises to 35 as governor says hundreds remain unaccounted for
AccuWeather: Kentucky grapples with ‘unimaginable’ loss following catastrophic flooding
USA Today: Heat brings new concerns in eastern Kentucky flooding; death toll hits 37: What we know
Featured Image Courtesy of Richard Elzey’s Flickr Page – Creative Common License
Inset Image Courtesy of tink tracy’s Flickr page Creative – Common License
