Pike County Judge-Executive Ray Jones said the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s tour of flood-stricken eastern Kentucky Tuesday will include a visit to his county. He said he hopes that will lead to an expedited major disaster declaration from President Trump, which would make the county eligible for federal public and individual assistance.
“Public Assistance covers damage to public infrastructure, like county roads, city roads, state roads, bridges, utilities like water, power, sewer.”
Jones said individual assistance would help homeowners, property owners and residents who’ve suffered flood damage. He said many victims didn’t have flood insurance and surveying damage in the largest county in Kentucky has been difficult.
“From the area I was in yesterday, over in the Woodman community, to the long fork area that was damaged, is probably well over an hour drive, probably closer to an hour and 20 minutes or more. And then if you go over to the Elm Creek area that was damaged, that's probably another 20, 25, minutes.
Jones said 10 county bridges were destroyed by the flood, and one of them, in the Woodman area, will likely cost a minimum of $350,000 to repair.
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