At least 16 people have died in widespread flash flooding in Kentucky, including families with children, a toll the authorities expect to rise on Friday as extreme weather hits several states.
The Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, said on Friday morning he expected to receive a federal state of emergency declaration later in the morning, which gives state governors extra powers and access to special funding to deal with such a catastrophe and has been in contact with the White House.
He announced the latest death toll after visiting affected areas but added on Friday morning: “I expect that number to more than double, probably even throughout today.”
This comes on the back of the worst tornado disaster we have ever seen,” Beshear told CNN on Friday morning, referring to the western part of the state being hit by deadly tornadoes several months ago.
Search and rescue teams backed by the national guard are searching for people missing in the record floods that have wiped out entire towns in some of the poorest places in America.
“There are hundreds of families that have lost everything,” Beshear said. “And many of these families didn’t have much, to begin with. And so it hurts even more. But we’re going to be there for them.”
The flooding has hit eastern Kentucky, while extreme weather has also badly affected parts of Arizona, Missouri with flooding, and Nevada, where parts of the main commercial strip in Las Vegas have been under water.
In Kentucky, powerful floodwaters swallowed towns that hug creeks and streams in Appalachian valleys and hollows, swamping houses and businesses, leaving vehicles in useless piles and crunching runaway equipment and debris against bridges. Mudslides on steep slopes left many people marooned and without power, making rescues more difficult.
