Once again, eastern Kentuckians are digging themselves out of the mud. It's a lot harder to shovel when frozen.
But whatever mud is left from last weekend's flooding is surely solid as concrete this morning. As if this winter hasn't been wintery enough. Those of you with long memories remember there was snow on the ground Thanksgiving weekend and it sure seemed like much of the time since. And here we are now, trying to clean up from deadly region-wide multiple watershed flooding, blessed with several inches of snow and single digit temperatures.
Ever feel like someone's rubbing their hands together saying "let's see what they can deal with this time"?
It's been less than 3 years since a thousand year flood devastated Letcher and southern Pike county. Over half of the bridges on Elkhorn Creek between Jenkins and Elkhorn were destroyed in that one. But the creek actually crested higher at Elkhorn in last weekend's flood. It wasn't even close.
Just ask the residents of the Landmark Nursing Home in Elkhorn City who had to be evacuated by boat after the creek surrounded the building. Once again, first responders and neighbors came together to get people out of harm's way. Equal shout out to local churches who housed the ones who were displaced.
The only upside of disaster is it proves, again, the goodness of your neighbor. Just as in Elkhorn, good neighbors and first responders came together in Pikeville, in Coal Run, in Grundy and Williamson, in Whitesburg and Prestonsburg, Paintsville, Hazard and Beattyville. All over east Kentucky, southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia, we greeted the flood of '25 with the same attitude:
Nice try, but you're not gonna beat us.
We're past the flood worry for this episode. The snow and cold will let the streams continue dropping. The problem we're facing the next few days is slides and hillside slips due to the ground being so wet. It was ground saturation that led to the floods in the first place. Now it'll lead to more rocks and trees in the road, so keep an eye out.
Recovery and cleanup are going to take a lot of time and hard work. The biggest question is whether DOGE allows FEMA to live long enough to set up some tables at the courthouse. And if they do, will FEMA have money to do anything? And if it does, will there be any FEMA employees left to spend it? And if there are, will they spend any of that money on me?
Not that I expect them to. I didn't get flooded. I live on a hill.
But I do want them to spend it on you if you got flooded. You've been cleaning up, I know you've been doing the good stuff. You deserve it.
Even under the best circumstances, it won't be what you deserve or even need. You'll have to be patient and have proof of everything.
It's hard to predict what will happen next. We can only hope FEMA personnel haven't all been replaced by laid off Google customer service reps.