Conditions improve after widespread flooding and heavy rain kill at least 4 in Kentucky

By Emma Tucker, CNN

(CNN) — Widespread flooding across Kentucky has left at least four dead and prompted dozens of rescues after heavy rains wiped out bridges, inundated roads and flooded homes, but Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday afternoon conditions are improving.

One person died in Jackson County, in southeastern Kentucky, and three others died in Madison County, just south of Lexington — including a man and woman who officials said drowned in a home that was underwater, Beshear confirmed Saturday.

“This flooding has devastated so many communities across our state and taken the lives of four children of God, gone too soon,” Beshear said in a statement Sunday, adding that he will request federal public and individual assistance to support recovery efforts.

Beshear also declared a state of emergency and urged people to be cautious and avoid unnecessary driving.

“When it gets dark, it’s going to get even worse. So please, do not drive after dark if you can avoid it,” Beshear said in a video posted to X Saturday afternoon. One motorist was killed after being swept away by flash flooding, Beshear said.

As of Sunday afternoon, 13 counties and five cities — spanning central, southern and western Kentucky — have declared states of emergency, according to the governor’s office. The counties are Bullitt, Clinton, Cumberland, Garrard, Grayson, Jackson, Jessamine, Madison, Meade, Mercer, Metcalfe, Spencer and Wayne. The cities are Albany, Brandenburg, Burkesville, McKee and Muldraugh.

Over the coming weeks and months, the state will have to deal with massive infrastructure damage to roads and bridges that have been washed out, Beshear said.

He added that Kentucky will request public assistance from FEMA to help pay for and rebuild those structures, especially in rural counties.

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More than 8 inches of rain had fallen at the Cumberland County mesonet site since midnight, according to a Facebook post from the NWS in Louisville. The emergency covers Cumberland, Clinton and Metcalfe counties, with officials urging residents to seek higher ground.

The severe weather is the latest in a history of catastrophic flooding in Kentucky, including deadly flash floods in early 2025 when more than a month’s worth of rain deluged much of the state in less than 24 hours. In 2022, dozens of people in Kentucky were killed when unprecedented flooding inundated houses and swept some from their foundations.

In the latest disaster, some parts of the state were drenched with 10 to 12 inches of rain in the 48-hour window between Friday and Saturday.

Beshear said this is Kentucky’s 16th weather-related disaster in the past six and a half years.

While the same areas were expected to get only one to two inches of rain Sunday, the saturated ground could trigger more flooding as the weekend comes to an end.

As conditions improve, Beshear said it’s crucial for those impacted to have power and for those who have been displaced to relocate to a location with power, which may include lodges at the state parks.

More than 60 water rescues and evacuations have been conducted, Beshear said Sunday. In Madison County alone, 17 households are sheltering and 320 homes are without water, according to the governor’s office.

Beshear also signed an emergency order Sunday allowing pharmacies in impacted areas to issue emergency refills and activated the state’s price gouging laws to protect residents from inflated prices on goods and services.

Roads across Cumberland County are not safe for driving, County Judge Luke King said. “For those who are not required to be out, please stay in,” King said in a Facebook post Sunday morning.

“This isn’t a restriction of your personal freedoms,” he added. “It’s a sincere request to help reduce the number of situations where our first responders and local government teams have to risk their lives to save someone else.”

Precautionary evacuations are underway in one part of Bullitt County, which was hit particularly hard by Saturday’s flooding.

Officials were closely monitoring a dam that recently experienced a landslide. The dam is holding and there’s no indication of an “imminent failure,” county emergency management officials said on Facebook on Saturday.

The Million Church in Richmond appeared to have collapsed, according to a video. Earlier in the day, the church announced its Saturday service was canceled due to the storm, adding: “Praying everyone stays safe.”

Photos provided by police in Richmond – about 30 miles south of Lexington – show officers blocking off flooded streets and checking on stranded vehicles almost submerged by rising floodwaters.

The two people who died from suspected drowning in Richmond were trapped in the basement of a flooded home, police said.

The residence was already underwater when police and fire officials arrived at the scene and could not make contact with anyone inside, police said. Rescue teams were later able to enter and found the bodies of a man and a woman, the agency said.

Major intersections in the city are flooded, Richmond Mayor Robert Blythe said. He has been receiving calls from residents concerned about their neighbors whose homes are filling with water, Blythe told CNN.

Richmond, to a certain extent, had been “spared” from the tragic weather affecting the surrounding area in recent years, the mayor said. “It appears to be our turn,” he added.

Elsewhere in Madison County, “significant roads” are underwater, with five search and rescue teams on the scene, the governor said.

At least 12 roads across the state are flooded and inaccessible, while numerous bridges in counties like Jessamine have been “entirely wiped out,” the governor said.

“We know we’ve already lost at least a handful of Kentuckians. I don’t want to lose any more,” he said, adding the storms have become “much more severe than most would have thought.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Million Church in Richmond.

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CNN’s Allison Chinchar contributed to this report.