BEATTYVILLE, Ky. — Recovery efforts were underway in Downtown Beattyville on Wednesday. Floodwaters have fallen, and people are returning to restore their homes and businesses.

Rebekkah Early is one of the many businesses surveying the damage inside her store. It’s the first time she’s stepped into a tattoo shop.

“I can’t get into my santintation room,” Early said.

She is processing the damage and destruction the flood has caused.

“Some of my plants made it,” Early said.

She spent the morning hours sifting through what’s salvageable and what will go into the trash.

“What am I going to do? How am I going to replace anything?” Early questioned.

These are the questions running in her mind as she finds a way to move forward.

“The stage was here, it’s going to have to be torn out,” Early said. Her shop is fairly new.

“I just opened in June. I thought that I could survive the pandemic and almost did and now this," she said.

On Wednesday, up and down Main Street, other business owners took advantage of the warm temperatures to dry their furniture. The high water is no more, instead, crews continue to clean the roads and pave ways for everyone to return to pick up the pieces.

“You know this isn’t just my business, this is all of Downtown Beattyville,” Early said

The Lee County Emergency Management is reminding anyone impacted to document the flood damage, list value to items for loss, take plenty of pictures, and keep receipts of recovery efforts.