I see pictures of homes that are six plus feet off the ground. Is the area prone to flooding in the past? Is flood insurance required for financing?

I lived at an elevation of 2.8 feet above sea level for 15 years and through many hurricanes. Never had a flood claim but our code required an elevation of about seven feet. Had five feet of tide several times. Never lost anything. I now live in the NC Mountains, and we have flood areas here.

Mother Nature can be cruel and deadly.

Hope our KY Appalachian members are all safe.

Don't know specific area and local code but having grown up in the ridge and valley west of Birmingham I can tell you that when you have mountain terrain with steep sided valleys a heavy rain has nowhere to go but straight downhill and when it hits the creek or river at the bottom it's coming up fast. So fast most wouldn't belive it if they hadn't seen it. And it'll go down just as fast as long as downstream doesn't get plugged.

Thing is most folks know that and build for average heavy rains, 1-2 inches. My understanding is that area got something like six.

It’s Southeast Ky. Lots of double and single wides parked too close to creeks. Hills are too steep for anything unless it’s on a strip pit. This was just a tremendous freak training rain event over the same area and it came in the night. It was more like 12 inches all together. Five or six inches produce floods here. I’m familiar with that area having worked around it for over 30 years. I’m seeing things underwater from aerial footage I would never have dreamed would have ever gotten wet and that’s the field I worked in. If you’ve never been in an event like that it’s just unbelievable the power of water has and the stench afterwards. About thirty confirmed dead now. There will be more in the days to come.

They build on any flat spot they can find. Towns ,communities, and single family homes. Solid rock and steep equals mostly run off. It was wiped out but this time next year if not sooner they will build back in the same place. Nowhere or the means to go anywhere else.
Getting more downpours as I type this. IT'S BAD !!!

warrior they got 6in 5 hours. I think total since last Monday is pushing 12 inches with more coming tonight and tomorrow.

I just got home from Louisville last night and was there for the rain that did the flooding. The only effect that I saw from
Louisville was that the river went up quite a bit.
As a side note, I saw my first silver carp in the wild. It was the best kind, dead.

Is this the area known as Appalachia?
God bless those people.

Yes, Boco it is part of what they call Appalachia. We had this same thing in the summer of 16. so I know what it looks like and how long it takes to rebuild.

In Nov of1985 Pendelton and Grant county WV experienced a similar type of flooding rain 47 people died from the flooding rain The damage can still be seen today .Most of those mountain streams do not carry much water under normal conditions /But if it keeps raining over the same area and the storms do not push through there soon becomes no place for the water to go There is not a lot of room for any flooding. Rain starts to flood buildings quickly .We can look and say why build here .But it is their home and they have their roots there and can not think about moving somewhere else It is sad to see those people trying to make sense out of what damage was done

My cousins are there........my part of the family left 70 yrs ago for work in michiganderville and a better life

Here’s the amounts recorded at the sights of damage. Another round of flooding moving in tonight . Got to remember this area is one big rock water don’t soak up very much

One poor sad little lady said today that doesn’t matter how much it rained now everything was already gone !
Bless their souls

Up to 35 dead now with still a lot unaccounted for.

The people that live next door are from the heart of the worse part of the flooding there but of last count none of their family or friends lost life just all their processions.

Thank you for the updates, everyone.