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Extreme Flooding in Kentucky Has Killed at Least 16 People

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Gov. Andy Beshear warned that the death toll is expected to rise significantly.

At least 16 people have been confirmed dead as a result of flooding in Kentucky, the New York Times reports. That number is “going to get a lot higher,” Gov. Andy Beshear warned about the death toll on Friday. Beshear said that it may be several weeks before the full scale of the damage is known.

Close to 300 people have been rescued so far. Search and rescue efforts are still ongoing. Many survivors of the flood are expected to “lose just about everything,” the governor said.

The flooding began after parts of Kentucky received more than 9 inches of rain over the course of 12 hours on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The damage was concentrated in eastern Kentucky, where President Joe Biden has declared a major disaster in 13 counties.

 

A record-breaking flood also hit St. Louis earlier this week, leaving one person dead. Both the Missouri and Kentucky floods resulted from what the Washington Post called “1-in-1,000 year rain events.” They are representative of the kind of extreme weather events that are becoming more common as a result of climate change. 

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