‘The water came up really quick’: Frankfort residents react to historic flooding

FRANKFORT, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Niehgborhoods, communties and businesses in Frankfort are working to recover after being hit by devastating flooding.

Officials say it’s now a waiting game as to when flood waters recede and the cleanup process begins.

James Cornish’s family lives in the Bellepoint neighborhood. He says he hasn’t seen flooding like this since 1978.

“It just happened, I mean, it just came up so quick,” Cornish said about the flood waters. “We were here for like 30 minutes and within 30 minutes it raised within like 4 inches.”

Cornish evacuated his dad and other family members on Sunday afternoon. He says it was a whirlwind, but today the emotions are catching up with him.

“A lot of memories down in this little neighborhood,” Cornish said. “I grew up in this neighborhood and it’s just something to make you thankful of what you got and the people you have in your life.”

Many families are now working to rebuild after flood waters swept through roads, homes and businesses all throughout Frankfort.

“It’s been, I think a lot of confusion as far as what to do the water came up really quick,” Frankfort business owner Sean Cutter said.

Cutter said he prepared all weekend for the floods putting sandbags in front of the doors.

” I don’t know that anybody really understood what was going to happen this time around,” he said.

Sandbags now line the streets of Downtown Frankfort.

“It’s scary, it’s definitely scary,” Arron Finnell with Frankfort Parks and Recreation said.

Finnell says they spent the majority of the weekend filling up sandbags and barricading roads.

“We had assembly lines and we were putting it down,” Finnell said.

Now, officials say the waiting game begins. Once the river levels decrease, the cleanup process begins.

“It’s going to be several days to get cleaned up, but we’ll get through it,” Cornish.