Officials are worried that their recovery efforts will be slowed by an incoming weather system the next day as they tried to recover from the devastating flooding that has claimed nine lives.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday emergency workers made more than 1,000 water rescues this past weekend, but they fear the death toll will increase as the water recedes. A new winter storm will complicate matters, bringing up to eight inches of snow to the Louisville area starting Tuesday. Advertisement
“In the last 48 hours, we have seen four seasons of weather,” Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said on Sunday, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. “Rain, then snow. We’ve even had a thunderstorm, and now we’ve got snow coming again. It’s a serious, serious event.”
The emergency crews consisted of Swift Water Boat squads and 146 soldiers from the Kentucky National Guard. Kentucky rescuers have received assistance across the Kentucky River from Ohio Task Force 1, which has been aiding the state and other nearby states affected by the weekend flooding. Advertisement
Officials have tried to respond rapidly to rising floodwater that swamp roadways across Kentucky and the region.
The new storm system will arrive late Tuesday, according to forecasters, bringing significant amounts of snow to Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. The system, which will bring inclement weather in two waves, is expected to drop up to 12 inches in Missouri and the second will hit southeastern Virginia and northern North Carolina.
