Local officials prepare and respond to flooding

ESTILL COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – Hurricane Ida may not be hitting Kentucky as hard as expected, but local officials aren’t letting their guards down just yet.

Earlier in the year, Estill County suffered historic flooding that broke records dating back to 1939. Situated on the Kentucky River, the county is used to flooding; the people say it’s a way of life. They don’t think potential flooding over the next couple days will be as bad as what they saw back in February and early March.

“We monitor it and of course our road crews are ready to barricade roads and things like that. We do take it seriously. But for the flooding we’re expecting we don’t expect a large affect on people’s everyday lives,” said Estill County Emergency Management Director Ronnie Riddell.

In Pike County, communities around the Blackberry Creek area had dangerous flash flooding Monday. Doug Tackett, Emergency Management Director for Pike County, says flash flooding in the county is normal, however it’s been especially destructive this time, destroying houses due to mudslides.

“We have quite a high incidence of flash flooding. It’s not in any particular place–it’s determined by how the rain falls. Numerous people have told me today that they’ve never seen water like this on Blackberry Creek before,” said Tackett.

The flash flooding came unexpectedly, and crews have been out all Tuesday clearing it.

“It came pretty quick, the way people tell us. It was just not there one second and then all of a sudden there it came. And it was like a wall of water coming down Blackberry Creek,” said Tackett.

Tackett says it’s difficult to estimate how many houses have been damaged, but the county is expecting assistance from the Red Cross and other relief programs. The county expects additional rain in the next few days, but Tackett says he hopes the flooding is over.

“We hope that’s been it. But we are supposed to get more flooding from the remnants of Ida…we don’t know how much, they’re telling us maybe two to three inches,” said Tackett.

Tackett says Pike County is watching its problem areas through the National Weather Service.

Meanwhile, there are no flooding problems yet in Scott County, which sometimes has issues along the north fork of Elkhorn Creek. Officials say the ground is saturated, and they are expecting about three more inches of rain as what’s left of Hurricane Ida passes through.

“We’re going to have two of our staff monitoring the weather for the next couple of hours. And we have up to eight people who can respond overnight if we have to put out high water signs or close roads and those types of things,” said Georgetown/Scott County Director of Emergency Management Michael Hennigan.

Regardless of where they were, all emergency management directors issued the same advice: do not drive on flooded roads.