WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — 72 hours after a deadly EF-2 tornado touched down in Washington County, the county’s emergency management director sounds relatively hopeful about the recovery effort.
“I visited with them all Saturday, they’re cleaning up themselves, offering our assistance if they need anything. And they had a lot of people offering, and we've had a lot of organizations reaching out, offering help,” said Kevin Devine, Washington County Emergency Management Director.
However, it is likely that FEMA will not be one of the organizations helping in this community’s recovery efforts.
“I’m not sure we'll meet FEMA’s requirements for a declaration,” Devine said. “It was a small area, only 4-5 homes were damaged,” he continued before adding that a county state of emergency has been declared, so they can tap into state resources for assistance.
Devine said the county’s infrastructure, including the water line appears to have been unharmed and that the power has been restored to the impacted area, and debris from the storm has been removed from the roads.
“Our county road department will come back and clean it (debris from the side of the roads), in time. Let the families get done what they need to do and they’ll come back and clean up as they can,” Devine said.
Devine said he’s navigating how to best help storm victims on a day-to-day basis.
“We’re trying not to push ourselves on them. Let them tell us what they need, and we’ll meet that need for them. It's very overwhelming for the families going through this, trying to decide what they need, so we'll be here for a long time with them,” Devine explained.
