“Officials host groundbreaking for homes on higher ground”

WYMT

LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Letcher County officials gathered to celebrate a new neighborhood bringing homes to flood-impacted families.

Crews are breaking ground on a new project with plans of building ‘The Cottages at Thompson Branch.’ That includes eight new homes in different phases of construction.

Officials said the groundbreaking is another step forward in the mission of flood recovery.

“We were thinking about, OK, how do we go forward from the flood? How can we have impact, do things differently than we ever did before? What can we do?” said Homes Inc. Executive Director Seth Long. “So, we started dreaming. We started making plans, and, today, kind of unveiled some of those plans.”

Long added the homes will be using solar energy to help families see decreased utility costs.

FAHE CEO Jim King said the project is almost like a pilot program for what officials hope to be more projects.

“It’s signals a lot of hope. Like, the plan we laid, the vision the governor had, it all is actually happening, and that just creates momentum,” said Jim King.

The community is located near Whitesburg.

Two Year Anniversary of Eastern Kentucky Flooding

KET

Eastern Kentucky marks the two-year anniversary of catastrophic flooding that destroyed hundreds of homes. Governor Andy Beshear visited four counties hit hard by catastrophic flooding.

“Beshear praises high ground communities on 2-year anniversary of eastern Kentucky floods”

WCHS News

WAYLAND, Ky. (WCHS) — Gov. Andy Beshear was in Floyd County to mark the two year anniversary of the historic floods that devastated eastern Kentucky and to praise recovery efforts in the form of high ground communities across the region.

One of those high ground communities is in the town of Wayland in Floyd County. Friday morning 11 families who lost their homes in the floods took ownership of new houses built on higher ground and Beshear announced funding for 13 more high ground homes in town.

Those who lived in eastern Kentucky at the time will likely never forget the scenes of flooded streets and structures.

"The floors were gone. It was totally gone," said Buddy Jervis who lost his home to the floods.

The Jervis family is one of the families to move into a new home built by the Appalachian Service Project of Tennessee.

"It means a lot. This is something we have never owned before, nothing like this. This is beautiful," said Jervis.

"As long as funding is available and there is volunteers and there are people who need a home, we will keep going," said John Pearce, Chairman of the Board at Appalachian Service Project.

“Gov. Beshear visits Eastern Kentucky communities on 2-year flood anniversary”

LEX 18 News

KNOTT COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Two years ago many eastern Kentucky communities were completely taken over by water. Now, those same communities are coming together to remember that time and to look back at how far they’ve all come.

Governor Andy Beshear visited Knott County on Friday and it was just one of several stops that he made marking the two-year anniversary of the flooding in the region. The events focused on the progress made over the last two years and it was a chance to remember the lives that were lost. 

In his remark, Beshear said, “In a world where things are constantly trying to pull us apart, you have come together you have stayed together you have lived the golden rule of loving your neighbor as yourself, the parable of the good Samaritan that says everyone is your neighbor, and you're about to have a whole lot of new neighbors as these homes come up.”

‘Seizing this moment.’ Slow but steady progress on EKY housing after floods.

Lexington Herald Leader

HAZARD - On July 28, 2022, Wayne White’s house in Breathitt County was filled with 13-and-a-half feet of water after five days of torrential rain. Those floods killed 45 people, mostly centered in Breathitt, Knott, Perry and Letcher counties, and damaged or destroyed almost 10,000 homes. White wanted to stay in the house he’d lived in for more than 20 years. He worked with FEMA to replace all the duct work in his house, but it was too far gone. In the next few weeks, though, he’ll be moving into a brand new three-bedroom house on top of an old strip mine just over the Perry County line.

“I’ll be glad to get here,” White said as he inspected fresh paint colors in the house under construction last week, including one bright purple room for his granddaughter. A crew from the Housing Development Alliance, helped by a bus load of volunteers from Dayton, Ohio, were bringing in doors and finishing the floors in the kitchen/living room of the sunny space.

The Alliance has worked on about 10 other houses that have already been built at the Blue Sky subdivision near the Wendell Ford Airport outside Hazard. As each survivor’s story is different, so is the resolution to their problems, each one a complicated patchwork quilt of people’s housing needs, finding land, finding financing to build and financing for renting or buying.

Eastern Kentucky already had a housing shortage; one night in July created the kind of overwhelming crisis that can take decades to solve. Two years later, progress is slow. But advocates and officials say the disaster also opened up huge opportunities to jump-start housing solutions throughout the region. “It’s become an amazing group of organizations that have collaborated in a way that is unusual,” said Scott McReynolds, the executive director of the Alliance. “And if we keep working together, we can do more.”

The coalition includes an array of non-profits who are working with state and local officials to best use the huge influx of federal disaster funds that have come into the state. McReynolds, for example, has doubled his staff so they can continue to build affordable housing across the region while also helping the numerous survivors who need somewhere to live that is safe and out of harm’s way.

“Below the Surface You Still See It”: The Eastern Kentucky Flood, Two Years Later

Notes From the Field, Cleveland Fed

Two years after eastern Kentucky was devastated by a historic flood, the region has made progress in rebuilding. However, signs of the flood remain, and the region still faces various challenges on the road to a full recovery.

“Things are looking more normal, but when you start digging below the surface you still see it,” said Scott McReynolds, executive director of the Housing Development Alliance, when I asked if there were still signs of the flood that hammered eastern Kentucky in July 2022. As a result of the historic flood, 13 counties were deemed federal disaster areas, 8,408 homes were damaged, 542 homes were destroyed, and 44 people died.

Despite the initial devastation, a recovery is underway, supported by money that has flowed into the region. By July 2023, one year after the flood, a combination of federal, state, and philanthropic sources had contributed over $500 million in relief funds. In February 2024, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development approved roughly $300 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds that 20 counties are eligible to receive. However, according to Kristin Walker Collins, the CEO of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky, taking advantage of this type of funding could strain the budgets of local governments because they would need to spend their own money up front to be eligible for reimbursement. The state of Kentucky has also worked to secure seven high-ground sites—land situated above the flood plain—ranging in size from 4 acres to over 100 acres. These sites are set to eventually contain 560 houses. In addition, nearly 500 property owners have taken advantage of property acquisition programs administered by FEMA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. These programs provide communities with funding “to acquire and demolish flood-prone properties from willing owners.”

Flood survivor celebrates new beginnings after century of family legacy

Mountain Citizen

Inez, KY (MOUNTAIN CITIZEN) - Daisy Slone was 16 when she moved into the old house on land that her family lived on for over 100 years on Moore Branch in Inez. It was her home until a flash flood swept through the property in 2022, tearing up the century-old structure and leaving Slone to sleep on her daughter’s sofa. Now, however, thanks to a group of generous donors, funders and volunteers, the 74-year-old Slone has a brand-new home on the same site as the former.

On April 16, Slone celebrated the completion of her new home build with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Tom Manning-Beavin, CEO of Frontier Housing, the organization that led the project, welcomed attendees who included donor representatives, Slone’s family and friends, and Martin County and Inez City officials.

Manning-Beavin expressed gratitude to contributors to the project, crediting the role of Fahe’s “Housing Can’t Wait” campaign. “Fahe helped us connect to a bunch of funders that were able to pull money together to make this happen,” he said.

Fahe is a Berea-based network of 50-plus community-based nonprofits serving Appalachia. Key contributors to Slone’s project include the Public Protection Cabinet, the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky in Hazard, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati, and the People’s Bank of Salyersville.

“We had some money from the Community Development Financial Institution Fund in the Department of Treasury, what’s called the Equitable Recovery Program,” added Manning-Beavin. “We were able to use that money to fund this. We pulled those five sources together and were able to make this happen.”

Manning-Beavin also pointed to the home’s energy efficiency. “We expect this house will cost less than $100 a month to operate, all-electric,” he said before introducing Slone.

Standing on her new front porch, Slone declared, “I am the proud owner of this new home. It is amazing.” She thanked everyone involved in the project.

‘It’s a good day’: HDA breaks ground on another home on higher ground

WYMT Mountain News

PERRY COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - Efforts to rebuild continue following the July 2022 flood. Last month, Governor Andy Beshear announced $13.5 million in funding from the Rural Housing Trust Fund for non-profits in Eastern Kentucky who have made efforts to rebuild.

The Housing Development Alliance received $2.5 million of the funding. Leaders said the money will help build 17 homes and repair 15 others. On Tuesday, HDA and other state and local officials broke ground on the first home being built with the funding.

“What we’ve been saying at all of these events is it’s a good day. It is actually a really really good day because today we are celebrating starting a home for Melissa and her daughters and their husky,” said Scott McReynolds, the Executive Director of HDA.

Melissa Neace and her daughters are moving into the home, and Melissa said it was a very exciting day for her family.

Eastern Kentucky One Year After the Flooding

Bringing It Home with KHC

Bringing It Home is a multimedia space hosted by Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) where the affordable housing community can read, listen, watch, and participate in the discussion of new ideas, best practices, policy tools, and stories of those affected by and shaping affordable housing.

Eastern Kentucky One Year After the Flooding – Part 1 – The Homeowners

The flooding of late July 2022 devastated communities in Eastern Kentucky. In this episode, we look back at the events of those days through the eyes of two flood survivors: Sherry Mullins, whose home was swept off its foundation by a 30-foot wave, and Adam Stacey, whose home suffered substantial water damage but fortunately was repairable. In the year since, both Sherry and Adam have received support from Housing Development Alliance (HDA), one of the few nonprofit affordable housing developers in the region.

Listen to Sherry and Adam share their stories and learn about how the rebuilding efforts in Eastern Kentucky have been life-changing for some lifelong residents.

Eastern Kentucky One Year After the Flooding – Part 2 – The Builders

The flooding of late July 2022 devastated communities in Eastern Kentucky. In this episode, we look back at the events of those days through the eyes of two affordable housing developers: Scott McReynolds, executive director of Housing Development Alliance in Hazard, and Seth Long, executive director of HOMES, Inc. in Letcher County. Since the night of the flood, both organizations have devoted their efforts almost entirely to the recovery.

Eastern Kentucky floods haunt survivors trying to move forward one year later

FOX Weather

HAZARD, Kentucky – On a hot July day, Carolyn Short can be found enjoying the view from her new front porch with a breeze blowing her wind chimes. Despite the heat, she enjoys the fresh air.

One year ago on July 27, 2022, Short's view was dangerously different as she climbed into her attic as a last effort to survive the deadly flash flooding emergency that tore through her community in Perry County, destroying thousands of homes.

Over four days, the National Weather Service issued multiple Flash Flooding Emergencies across Eastern Kentucky. The flooding came overnight when many were asleep.

Flooding Hits American Towns Far From Oceans and Big Rivers

The Wall Street Journal

Unprecedented storms in Kentucky illustrate a growing and often overlooked threat: severe flooding across the inland U.S.

Governor Beshear dedicates second home funded in part by EKY flood relief fund

WYMT Mountain News

WHITESBURG, Ky. (WYMT) - Governor Andy Beshear was in Letcher County on Tuesday, dedicating the construction of the second home to be partially funded by the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund.

Letcher County-natives William and Jason Gross will be moving into the home.

“It couldn’t happen to two greater people. It’s happening in a neighborhood that Homes (inc.) is building that will have three or four families of flood survivors. They’re already getting to know each other, so they will move in already with neighbors that they know and that care about them,” said Beshear.

Gov. Andy Beshear visits Letcher County, breaks ground on new flood relief home

WYMT Mountain News

WHITESBURG, Ky. (WYMT) - Governor Andy Beshear made a trip to the mountains on Monday, making several stops along the way, including one in Whitesburg.

The Governor joined an Eastern Kentucky family in breaking ground on their new home.

“This is an incredibly special day, people lost everything in this flooding, most importantly their home. It’s a place we feel safe, it’s a place where we make memories,” said Beshear.

‘Today is a good day’: Another home built from ‘Housing Can’t Wait’ initiative

WYMT Mountain News

CHAVIES, Ky. (WYMT) - George and Sherry Mullins, a Breathitt County couple who lost their home in the July flood, will now be living on higher ground.

“We’re starting again at our age, but we’ll do that,” Sherry Mullins said.

Their new home is the seventh built from the ‘Housing Can’t Wait’ initiative, which was created by local non-profits to address community needs after the flood.

‘This is an answered prayer’: Organizations help Letcher County families find home after the floods

WYMT Mountain News

WHITESBURG, Ky. (WYMT) - Several organizations joined hands over the last several months, working to give Eastern Kentucky flood victims a place to call home.

Friday, one Letcher County family celebrated its new space with a ceremony that invited the hands and feet that helped them get there.

HOMES, Inc. and Fahe, joined by relief partners from around the region, handed off the keys to a new home as part of the “Housing Can’t Wait” initiative.