“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.”