BEATTYVILLE, Ky. — There's progress in South Central Kentucky following severe flooding earlier this year. One tattoo shop has reopened after having to relocate.
What You Need To Know
- Rebekkah Early now has her tattoo shop open
- In March, flooding destroyed her shop. She relocated in April and now has customers coming back
- FEMA extended the deadline for Kentuckians impacted by severe storms to apply for assistance
- The new deadline to apply was July 23
It's a story Spectrum News 1 has been following closely since March when heavy rainfall along with cresting rivers damaged towns in 31 counties.
Rebekkah Early is among the many recovering in Lee County. Earlier this year, she was on the verge of quitting.
“I wasn't, I wasn't gonna reopen,” Early said as she recalled the last few months.
She told herself to just pack up and move north.
“I wasn't going to reopen, Brenda,” Early said while she speaks to a customer getting a tattoo. “I was done. I was so devastated. I was at my lowest low. There was no way that I was going to reopen. None.”
Friends and family encouraged the Beattyville tattoo shop owner to try again.
“You're one of the reasons why – you and a few others are the reason why I'm open,” Early said.
In March, we first introduced you to Early when all of her hard work, her art, was destroyed by the historic flood that turned streets into makeshift rivers.
“I broke down. I lost it. To watch everything that you work so hard for, take it away in just a few hours, and just water,” Early said.
Water caused so much damage that she relocated to another shop up the main street in Beattyville.
“I was at the lowest of low there for a while, but now I'm probably the happiest that I've been in a long time, long time,” Early said.
Outside her shop, a Bourbon and Moonshine Festival took place on the streets. It drew large crowds where water once pooled and collected.
“This festival is a good thing for us and hopefully, it'll be an even better thing for Beattyville because we really needed it,” Early said “We really really really needed all the help that we can get, all the business that we can get. It's gonna be a good day. It's a good day.”
A good day indeed for a town reemerging to what it once was.
“We survived the pandemic, to be taken out by a flood, and we came back stronger,” Early said. “And I'm thankful for that. I really, really, truly am.”
There is assistance available for Kentuckians impacted by the severe storms. The deadline for assistance through FEMA was extended to July 23.
