While waters have receded and cleanup is progressing in eastern Kentucky, there remain transportation challenges. In Breathitt County Brandon Gross is still fielding 30 calls or more, daily, about road repairs or challenges with gaining access to residences. He said it’s hard to put a number on people living near their original residence.
“There’s definitely a lot of vehicles that are just there because either they got nowhere to go or they’re trying to stay make sure some of their property doesn’t get looted. It’s hard to tell right now,” said Gross.
Gross said the response has been overwhelming, both inside and out of state. He noted some former residents of Breathitt County have come back to help out with recovery.
“There’s a lot of people that want to help other people, just even from this community like neighbor helping neighbor. It’s still that attitude, but at the same time it’s kind of like ‘what do we do?’ Because they are so overwhelmed with the cleanup, then after cleaning up, it’s kind of like where do you go from there,” said Gross.
Gross said there remains evidence of make-shift sleeping arrangements in tents or in vehicles. He calls it, “a wild three weeks.”
