HEARTBREAKING

Coal Miner With New Baby at Home Died Trying to Help Kentucky Flood Victims

Gabriel Hensley was trying to get home to his wife and 10-week-old baby but stopped to help redirect others and clear trees. That’s when his own truck got swept away.

As of Tuesday, 37 people had died in Kentucky’s flooding, including a 30-year-old coal miner who spent his final minutes trying to help others escape. Gabriel Hensley was working in the mines when flooding began in Perry County, his wife told the Lexington Herald-Leader. He was attempting to drive home to his wife and 10-week-old baby when he stopped to help redirect others and clear trees. That’s when his own truck got swept away in the quickening current. Locals circulated pleas for help in finding Hensley before officials confirmed Sunday they had located his body. “My husband was a family man and was doing anything to make it home,” his wife said. Gila Ann Miller, an 83-year-old grandmother, was already at home when the water rushed into her small community. As anxieties and tides rose, her grandson and son-in-law managed to reach her home on Friday, where water had risen to the ceiling. Miller’s grandson found her body.