Written by Ania Boutin and Zoe Lewis

As heavy rain ravaged far western Kentucky, all Barry Knight could do was watch the water rise.

“I stayed in the house and watched the water actually creep into the house, and that was an uneasy feeling, kind of like you would imagine the Titanic sinking,” Knight said. “It’s definitely depressing. There’s nothing you can do about it. I mean, you hope that it won’t come in, but then it eventually does.”

Knight, a McCracken County resident, was one of many locals impacted by the flooding, which resulted from storms and heavy rain that soaked the region with between 12 to 15 inches of rain from April 2 to April 6.

“It’s stressful. It’s depressing, I will say that,” Knight said. “I love my area. I like everything around it, other than the water. It’s hard to leave. You get to a point where you almost can’t leave because you’re trapped where you’re at. You can’t really sell your house anymore. Nobody really wants to buy it.”

Knight said the damages to his family’s home are estimated to be around $100,000.

“Once it gets in the house, then it just becomes a major expense and a burden on your family unless you’ve got flood insurance, which we do,” Knight said. “But a lot of people around here don’t have flood insurance. A lot of the people in this area are a little hard-pressed.”

This area of McCracken County was also hit hard by a flood in April of 2011, when the Paducah region received 15.91 inches of rain. Knight recalls the 2011 flood as being much slower, giving people more time to prepare. 

“But this time, it came up so fast,” Knight said. “Within 13, 14 hours, it already surrounded the house and was coming up the house. So we were just hoping and praying that it wouldn’t get into the house. … But (it was) just too much water, too fast.”

Knight said that the area where he lives, near Oaks Road, was flooded for at least four miles. He said some of his neighbors had to evacuate after their houses flooded.

“We had a rescue actually up the road half a mile,” Knight said. “I was walking by. One man only had one leg, and they had the rescue team out getting him out of his house.”

For those whose homes were damaged by the flooding, the next steps can be daunting. Knight describes the repairs and cleaning as a major overhaul, one that can become a health risk due to mold if not dealt with properly.

“It’s a long, slow process,” Knight said. “You want to do it all at once, (but you can’t). You have to wash out the garage. You have to clean up every little thing because (the flood water) leaves dirt on everything. You just have to scrub it off or wash it off. … We’re going to have to move all our furniture out.”

Knight said that in times like these, it’s always helpful to have more hands to help with repairs. He said that while the impact of this flood was devastating, one of the main positives is receiving support from his community.

“They’ll call and ask you how you are,” Knight said. “You get a lot of comments and people praying for you and everything, offering help. That’s a good thing about that. You get to hear from people that you haven’t talked to in a while. …  It’s how people come together, I guess you could say.”

Marshall County also experiences flooding

Many businesses have been affected by the recent southeast floods, including the Back Door Bakery and Grill. 

The Back Door Bakery and Grill is in Benton, Kentucky, behind Odds and Ends Fabric and Craft. The building has been family-owned since the 1950s, and the family owns both businesses.  

Until this year, the building last flooded in 2001. The building has flooded twice this year within two months. Owner Stacy Riley says the first flood this year ruined many items from both businesses.

“There was wet fabric everywhere,” Riley said. “Food on the lower shelves was drenched. Cake and pastry boxes were soaking wet.”

Riley said the first flood was overwhelming. She said mud was everywhere, and they pressure-washed and cleaned the entire building with a shop vac. Thankfully, some materials survived the flood, including fabric and bakeware. 

The restaurant was prepared for the next flood with the help of returning customers and even strangers. 

“With the second flood, people I have never seen before were picking up and unloading sandbags around our store,” Riley said. “Other complete strangers loaded up appliances and took them somewhere safe, so we could use them after we get cleaned up again.” 

Riley said the citizens of Benton have been amazing, but she can’t say the same for the City of Benton. 

“The city has done nothing,” Riley said. “We were told we could get a small business loan if we needed help. Hint–none of us can afford that. So we’re all pretty unhappy with the City of Benton right now, as an entity.”

Riley also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has done nothing, but this is after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March that would give the states the responsibility of handling natural disasters. 

According to NPR, Trump has said that he wants to get rid of FEMA, but the question is whether he will cut federal funding for FEMA. Over the past 20 years, Kentucky has received over $2 billion in federal funding for natural disasters.