TERRIFYING

Kentucky Governor Fears Search for Flood Victims Could Take Weeks

Already, the flood death toll has reached double digits, just as Gov. Andy Beshear predicted, with at least 15 dead, including four siblings and at least six children.

After torrential downpours have ravaged southeastern Kentucky, sweeping away people, cars and homes, the governor said he fears the search for victims could take weeks, as authorities are already finding it nearly impossible to reach some people amid the flooding. “From everything we’ve seen, we may be updating the count of how many we lost for the next several weeks. In some of these areas, it’s hard to know exactly how many people were there,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. Already, the death toll has reached double digits, just as Beshear predicted, with at least 15 dead, including four siblings and at least six children. Patricia Colombo of Hazard, Kentucky, was stranded on a highway with a dead phone as floodwaters rose around her, but she was luckily able to wave a helicopter over that radioed a team on the ground to rescue her. Colombo said she and her fiancé had to take turns sleeping in order to keep an eye on the floodwater level in the home.