Governor Steve Beshear has declared a state of emergency in flash-flood-ravaged Kentucky, enabling officials and other rescue personnel to have full access to state resources in order to assist recovery efforts in the damaged areas of the state.
Rescue teams have begun their search for survivors and victims after a series of storms struck Ohio Valley, triggering massive flash floods that swept through the state, uprooting houses and killing several people, according to Reuters.
Rescue efforts have been underway, but the effects of the flash floods have vastly affected the terrain, creating an area that is extremely difficult to navigate.
Gary McClure, the local emergency management director, describes how rescue teams trying to comb the wooded, mountainous areas have been severely hampered by the environment, mainly due to large swarms of mosquitoes, soupy humidity, and knee-deep mud, reports Fox News.
"It just wears your legs out to walk," he said. "You walk from here to there in that mud and you're ready to sit down. It just pulls you down."
Though the rescue efforts are hampered by the environment, the support that has poured down on the hardest-hit areas have been anything but slow. Food, water and other pertinent supplies have begun pouring into the local high school in the area, according to CBS News. "We just wanted them to know that we are here for them," Becky Skaggs, a volunteer, said.
The flash floods and damages incurred by the natural disaster echoes much of what happened in Texas earlier this year, as covered in this HNGN article.
