Lee County Judge Executive Chuck Caudill says it’s now time for his community to offer flood assistance. Beattyville suffered major damage from flooding in the spring of 2021. Caudill said emergency personnel from several eastern Kentucky counties came to their aid. He said he and his responders have gone to Breathitt County.
“And right now, the devastation here is, by a factor of ten, worse than it was last year. Just the fact that we’re searching for bodies here, makes it worse than what happened to us last year,” said Caudill.
The Lee County government official said there was no loss of life in the Beattyville flood. The death toll in the current flood event is now at least 35 and the search goes on for the missing.
The eastern Kentucky county leader noted there are tested infrastructure improvements to address long-term flood risks. Caudill added federal funding could go to make some water-flowing changes.
“There are some ways to do it. The engineers had some great ideas. I had a chance to talk to them about spillways and managing the wetlands better to where the water can flow in and flow out. It flows more slowly. And they’ve done that. They’ve done that in the past. They can do it again,” said Caudill.
Caudill said he believes the Kentucky River basin is getting shallower every year, increasing the flooding risk. The county judge said locks along the Kentucky River stop the flow of sediment. Caudill and emergency response officials from Beattyville are in Wolfe County to help out.
Caudill noted a Lee County family who lost a house in last year’s flood saw the same result in this flood when water came up to the second floor. By and large, the downtown area of Beattyville has not seen significant damage.
