FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The deadly flooding that devastated homes and businesses in eastern Kentucky last month also caused major damage to the roads and bridges that families depend on.

Dozens will have to be repaired or replaced, according to transportation officials who updated lawmakers Wednesday.  

Rep. Chris Fugate (R, Chavies) has been helping with relief efforts from his church in Perry County.

"I was a state trooper for 22 years, I’ve never seen anything like we’ve witnessed the last ... three weeks," said Fugate. "But we’re a strong people in the mountains and we’re digging out each other and helping each other."

Crews have inspected 1,100 state and county bridges and 142 of them have issues that need to be addressed, according to Transportation Secretary Jim Gray.

Of those 142, about half will require new structures, he said. 

"In our world today, there’s the expectation that, you know, we can flip a switch almost and get things done, but these are challenging infrastructure projects," he said. 

Gray added there would be a way to get across at all but seven of the bridges by the end of the week, and crews have identified 57,000 slides or washouts of various sizes on state and county roads. 

Fugate said some of the roads in his district are still impassable and families are anxious to get to where they need to go. 

"All that they’ve done is encouraging to me to see that the transportation cabinet is on the ball and getting bridges and roads and things fixed back so we can go about our lives the way we can," he said.