At least 16 people are dead and the death toll “is going to get a lot higher” as devastating rainfall continues in eastern Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said in an update Friday.
Eleven of the deaths, which include two children, happened in Knott County in eastern Kentucky, the governor said.
“To all the families that know you’ve already sustained a loss, we’re going to grieve with you, we’re going to support you and we’re going to be here for you not just today, but tomorrow and in the weeks and the years to come,” Beshear said.
Also Friday, President Joe Biden issued a major disaster declaration in the state and ordered federal aid to be sent to “areas affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides,” according to a news release from the White House.
Beshear said the state made around 50 air rescues and hundreds of boat rescues Thursday. So far, 294 people have been rescued and 337 are in shelters, he added.
“This situation is ongoing,” he said. “We are still in the search and rescue mode and at least in some areas, the water is not going to crest until tomorrow.”
Rescue teams, assisted by the National Guard, were searching Friday for more missing people, according to The Associated Press.
“We’ve got volunteers coming in to help,” Jerry Stacy, the emergency management director in Perry County, told MSNBC. “That’s gonna be our focus, and, you know, we do still have people missing, and we’re doing everything that we can do in our power to find them.”
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It was not clear how many people were still unaccounted for Friday morning.
The state on Thursday ordered the evacuation of the Panbowl Lake area in eastern Kentucky, where officials are worried the dam will breach.
“We have already gone door to door and around to try to evacuate as many people who are willing to go,” Beshear said. “If you’re still there, why don’t you go find a friend, a relative, somebody to stay with, go to a hotel — just get somewhere safe. We don’t want to lose any more people than we have to.”
More than 23,000 people in the state are without power and “many counties without water,” he added.
The state had 2 to 3 inches of rainfall Thursday night and may get the same over the weekend, Beshear said Thursday.
As many as 4 million people remain under flood alerts across Kentucky, southern Ohio, West Virginia and southwestern Virginia.
Beshear told “NBC Nightly News” host Lester Holt on Thursday that the ongoing floods are “by far the worst flooding disaster” of his lifetime in the state.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
