KSP Troopers James Sandlin (left) and Randall Riley help Perry County senior citizen Isa Downing after being rescued from raging waters in Breedings Creek yesterday. (Photo by Jordan Thomas Hall)
By JORDAN THOMAS HALL
Torrential rainfall quickly turned the Red Fox community into a disaster area yesterday (Wednesday, July 17). Over five inches of rain fell heavily upon the area around noon as creeks and streams mushroomed out of their banks. The extreme weather left many stranded in their homes and some in their vehicles.
At approximately 11:50 a.m. Kentucky State Police Post 13 in Hazard began receiving numerous calls of emergency situations in Red Fox. KSP, KSP Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, Knott County Sheriff’s Department, Knott County Police Department, Knott County Department of Emergency Services, Knott County Judge-Executive Randy Thompson, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, Haz-Mat, Trans-Star Ambulance Service, all Knott County volunteer fire departments, Letcher County Fire Department, Grapevine-Chavies Volunteer Fire Department, Lotts Creek VFD, and Rousseau Fire Department (Breathitt County) responded to the scene. Many units responded with boats but were not needed upon arrival.
Emergency personnel responded to a mile-long stretch from the Red Fox Park to Breeding’s Creek where the damage was the most severe. Getting to Red Fox also proved challenging for officials as Hwy. 160 was both blocked due to numerous mudslides and was underwater in parts. Hwy. 15 was partially blocked near the Carr Creek Lake due to a slide, as was Hwy. 582 in Pinetop.
A silt pond overflowed in Breedings Creek sending gushing water into the hollow where streams quickly outgrew their banks. This left some residents in the hollow stranded in their homes. Perry County Senior Citizens had taken approximately 45 elderly residents to Four-Star Village for a field trip earlier in the day and also became stranded.
KSP troopers used all- terrain vehicles to bring down the senior citizens one by one. LKLP and Knott County Board of Education responded with buses to help evacuate the senior citizens once brought to the junction of Hwy. 15. Eventually all residents of Breedings Creek were evacuated as fear grew about the pay lake breaking as water was reportedly running over the top of the dam.
“I watched a little stream beside my barn (about a foot wide) go from that to a raging river in a flash and had to turn my horses and dogs loose,” said Breedings Creek resident Larry Hays.
Oma Smith of Caleb Branch (in Hale’s Branch) was driving her Dodge Caravan out of Hale’s Branch with her daughter Sarah Smith, 9, and twin babies when the weather changed instantly.
“I was driving in heavy rain and there was a small stream in the road and all of sudden it came up all around us,” said Smith. “The only thing that saved us was being up on a (little island) where the water went on both sides of us. I have lived here seven years and I have never seen anything like this.”
Knott County Emergency Management Director Greg Mullins and Assistant Director Jo Short ran an effective plan of action that divided the volunteer firemen into different rescue teams going hollow to hollow in the Carr Creek area. Although there were many rescues there were no injuries reported in the incident at press time. Short advised the Times that most of the damage sustained was to land, bridges, and culverts and generally not to homes.