JACKSON, Ky. — One trash bag at a time, volunteers with faith-based organization Samaritan’s Purse are clearing out what’s left of a Breathitt County home, one of many damaged by last weeks floods.
What You Need To Know
- Many families in eastern Kentucky have lost everything in last week’s floods
- Homes and buildings have to be fully gutted out
- Volunteer groups have flocked to the area to help with cleanup efforts
- More help in the region is needed, people on the ground say
“Our goal is to get all of the water-damaged Sheetrock, flooring, different things out,” said Krissa Ryan, Assistant Program Manager for Disaster Relief for Samaritan’s Purse.
Everything inside must go down to the nails in the studs. This is a condition many homes are in across eastern Kentucky, including most of this neighborhood, which backs up to the North Fork of the Kentucky River.
“We’re looking at a couple of days for this work to be done,” Ryan said.
The organization has more than a dozen volunteers in Breathitt County. More teams will soon be sent out to other affected areas as well. This is the first of many homes they plan on clearing out over the next few weeks.
“We do anticipate we will be here longer than those three weeks, just trying to help as many people as we can,” Ryan said.
Upstream closer to Jackson, there’s more damage. Some homes are completely destroyed or have been swept off their foundation. The high school’s technology center and the cars out front were underwater.
“I’m not an architect or engineer, but I think the building is a complete loss. I know all of the contents of the building is lost, and we are talking about millions of dollars worth of inventory, and we’ve had a bunch of COVID relief money that we’ve just spent on brand new stuff that’s never been out of the box and its all ruined,” Joe Mayabb, Principal of the Breathitt County Area Technology Center said.
Other buildings also flooded, including the high school coliseum along with the football team’s weight room and training areas. The main high school building, though, is OK.
Right now, they are taking things one day at a time and trying to remove what can’t be salvaged.
“As bad as it looks today, it looks a lot better than it did when we started on Monday,” Mayabb said.
Despite the extremely warm conditions and working in buildings with no power, there is an endless stream of people wanting to help in any way possible.
“It’s 95 degrees out here but it’s so satisfying to be working with these people and knowing that they’ve got your back and people that you don’t even know, never seen them before, and they are just coming in here asking how can they help,” Mayabb said.
And as bad as it is right now, the tight-knit communities of Eastern Kentucky are here for one another. Because even in the face of tragedy, soon after, you’ll find helpers.