As a flood warning remained in effect for Lee County, Kentucky, on March 1 dozens of homes were flooded causing evacuations in the small town of Beattyville with county officials using dump trucks to help people escape from their homes following a heavy rain day before.

Up to five inches of rain slammed the region including Laurel County and the town of London where a rescue squad used a raft to rescue a woman trapped in her car.

The devastation has hit the communities hard where our partners Cumberland Mountain Outreach in Beattyville and Come-Unity Cooperative Care in London serve the most needy.

One reporter who visited Beattyville described the situation bluntly as “not a pretty sight.”

That’s why this week, we at Americans Helping Americans® are focused on shipping emergency relief supplies including diapers, hygiene items, face masks, blankets, and more from our Virginia warehouse to our partners for their displaced clients.

In addition, this month we are hoping to send an additional $10,000 in emergency grant funding for clean-up once the flood waters recede.

Thankfully, there have been no reports of injuries, but Lee County Judge/Executive Chuck Caudill reported that most streets around Beattyville have water six to seven feet deep.

“We really had to some serious lifesaving because they were literally walking out of houses with two to three feet of water in them,” said Caudill.

State Gov. Andy Beshear has declared a state of emergency for the region as Caudill predicted that the flooding will get worse before it gets better.

“We expect this to be one of the largest flash-flooding events that we’ve had,” stated Kentucky Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett.