Four people were killed in flash floods caused by thunderstorms in Kentucky on Saturday, with further expected flooding into Sunday.
Three of the deaths were in Madison County and one in Jackson County, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said in an update posted to X.
Beshear declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon to help deploy more resources across Kentucky for ongoing search and rescue efforts and for the additional rainfall forecast into late Saturday evening.
Beshear said in the afternoon update that at least 12 state roads were “out of commission” due to flash flooding.
Five counties—Mercer, Meade, Spencer, Bullitt, and Madison—also declared their own local states of emergency, the governor said.
Madison, which was particularly hard hit, has reported several major roads are underwater.
Two of the Madison County victims were a man and woman found dead inside their home after floodwaters inundated a section of the city of Richmond, according to the Madison County coroner’s office.
Many others left were trapped inside their homes.
The third Madison County victim drowned in a vehicle trapped in floodwaters on Tates Creek Road near Lexington, the coroner’s office said.
Carlos Coyle, the deputy Madison County coroner, said search and rescue teams were going door to door searching for victims in hard-hit areas. Some areas still were not accessible, he said.
In northwest Kentucky, Bullitt County emergency management officials asked residents of a rural road just outside Louisville to evacuate as a precaution after a landslide at a dam embankment. The dam was holding, and there was no indication of imminent failure, they said.
The area had about 3 inches of rain in the past two days, according to the National Weather Service.
Jessamine and other counties have reported bridges being “entirely wiped out,” the governor said.
“Thank you to all the first responders out there, we’ve seen dozens and dozens of rescues,” he said. “We’ve already lost a handful of Kentuckians; I don’t want to lose any more.”
Residents in affected areas were urged to stay safe and out of flood waters.
Flood warnings were in effect overnight Saturday, until at least Sunday 5 a.m. for parts of central and southern Kentucky as well as south central Indiana.
It reported flooding in Richmond, Elizabethtown, Liberty, Nicholasville, Danville, Jasper, Glasgow, Bardstown, Shepherdsville, and Campbellsville.
Flood watches for elevated flooding risk remain in effect in parts of the state until at least Sunday, 12 p.m ET.
