Kentucky officials outline recovery needs after widespread February floods, ask legislature to boost disaster funds

Kentucky emergency-management and transportation officials briefed a joint meeting of House and Senate members on the scope of February’s storms and flooding, warning of a long recovery and asking the Legislature to lift a $50 million budget cap and reallocate prior “safe fund” balances to cover debris removal, local infrastructure repairs and liquidity needs.

The update, delivered by John Hicks, secretary of the Governor’s Executive Cabinet and state budget director; Eric Gibson, director of Kentucky Emergency Management; and Jim Gray of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said the event has affected scores of counties, left at least 23 confirmed fatalities, produced widespread power and water outages, and created a large debris and public‑works recovery mission.

Gibson said federal and state teams pre‑staged before the rains and that, as the event shifted eastward, damage patterns changed from riverine flooding in western counties to severe river and flash flooding in the eastern coalfield areas, including Martin, Pike, Perry, Letcher and Clay counties. He said the state had opened multiple disaster recovery centers, conducted door‑to‑door outreach and registered residents for assistance.

"We moved 33 of the state teams into position" and requested federal assistance overnight between Feb. 15 and 16, Gibson said, enabling FEMA swift‑water teams and other out‑of‑state responders to augment local search‑and‑rescue efforts. Hicks and Gibson credited more than 250 National Guard members and multiple local search‑and‑rescue teams…