Flooding kills 5 in Kentucky, West Virginia

West Virginia's governor has called a state of emergency for 19 counties

February 21, 2000
Web posted at: 8:01 a.m. EST (1301 GMT)

In this story: Five deaths related to floods Drought prevented more disasters State of emergency in West Virginia RELATED STORIES, SITES

FALMOUTH, Kentucky (CNN) -- Flood waters receded Sunday after weekend flooding that killed five people in West Virginia and Kentucky.

MESSAGE BOARD Nature's wrath

About 400 families who had evacuated their homes in Falmouth, Kentucky, on Friday and Saturday -- when the Licking River overflowed its banks -- were allowed to return Sunday morning.

But five counties -- Pendleton, Lewis, Flemming, Greenup and Rowan -- in northeastern Kentucky remained under a state of emergency declaration. A sixth, Boyd County, was expected to be added to the list as soon as damage assessments were completed, a state emergency operations center spokesman said.

Two people died in West Virginia when a fire department rescue boat capsized. Their bodies were recovered Sunday morning from a swollen creek just north of Charleston.

Car accidents killed three in Kentucky, where two to four inches of rain fell over the weekend. Two drivers died when they were trapped in swollen streams and a third was killed when she lost control of her car on a slippery interstate in Shelby county, emergency management officials said.

Ray Bowman, a spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, said the flooding from the Licking River, an Ohio River tributary in northern Kentucky, could have been much worse if the state had not been plagued by a severe drought last year.

He said the dry ground absorbed heavy rains much more readily than it normally would.

Most of the flooded creeks and streams empty into the Ohio River, expected to crest two feet above flood stage Monday, causing minor flooding.

West Virginia Governor Cecil Underwood on Sunday extended a state of emergency to 19 counties.

Additional counties could be added after assessments are completed, said Tom Burns, operations director for the state office of emergency services.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Kentucky Division of Emergency Management
West Virginia Office of Emergency Services

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