Floyd County keeps flooding and the federal government keeps coming to the rescue.
In July 2022, at least 40 people died and 300 homes were damaged when the eastern Kentucky county flooded. It was the 13th time in 12 years that the rural county was declared a federal disaster. These are disasters so costly that local governments can’t pay for it all, so the governor asks the president to declare a disaster to free up federal funds.
“After that flood I had 500 homeless people looking at me, ‘Judge, what are we going to do’?” recalled Judge Robbie Williams, administrator for the county of just over 35,000 people. “It’s overwhelming and it’s just a matter of time before it happens again.”
