Hazard, Kentucky, Mayor Donald “Happy” Mobelini told CNN on Friday morning that “today will be the sad day” as historic flash flooding claimed at least 15 lives in the state.
“It’s all sad … but this is the first time I remember that there’s been a loss of life, and at this point we don’t know what that looks like,” the mayor told CNN.
The city of Hazard is in Perry County, which reported at least two deaths from the flooding on Friday.
“People’s houses have been flooded that have lived there for 50, 75 years … no water has ever been close to them, and the water, that’s how fast it came up and how powerful it was,” Mobelini said.
The mayor said residents and officials are “so overwhelmed, we don’t really know what to ask for.”
“In downtown Hazard, we don’t really have a ton of property damage here. But in the outlying areas, it’s devastating,” he said.
The mayor told CNN that seven of the city’s nine bridges are impassable. “That’s unheard of,” he said.
The National Guard and local agencies continue to rescue people from the floodwaters.
Mobelini said those who were rescued were taken to an airport and then to a shelter.
The mayor told CNN that when he went to sleep on Thursday night, a bus was picking up 50 people from the airport. No official number on the number of those rescued has been provided.
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