WINCHESTER, Ky. (LEX 18) — When Justin West saw rain in the weather forecast at the beginning of the day, he said he didn’t think too much about it.
“We thought it’s just another little rainstorm that’s going to pass. Then, my son came in and said, ‘You might want to go get the car because it’s fixing to be flooded down the road.’ When I came out, it was literally almost to the door of the car,” West recalled.
West said he’s lived in the Treehaven Mobile Home Park in Clark County for five years.
He said the neighborhood sits by a small creek, which will flood from time to time.
But West said he’s never seen the water rise this high or this quickly.
The Clark County Fire Department responded to a call for help at Treehaven from a resident worried about the rising water around 10:50 a.m.
Officials with the fire department said when they arrived, the water was waist-deep in certain spots, and they had to use a rescue boat to help evacuate the person who had called for help getting out of their trailer.
“We’re just glad everybody made it out and everybody’s safe down here,” West said.
But, West said he’s not sure he’s willing to take any more chances with rain today.
“We got the car packed and everything,” West said. “I mean, with two kids, it’s scary. It can just come up on you like it did this morning within two to three hours and there you are. You lose everything. We were scared about that.”
The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for portions of central Kentucky until 8 p.m. Thursday.
The heavy rainfall throughout the day led to flooding similar to what the West family experienced in different parts of the Bluegrass.
In Lexington, the rain spilled inside the apartment building where Vaughn Warren lives.
Warren told LEX 18 News he had just cleaned up from flooding a few days ago when water came rushing in on Thursday.
“It floods all my bedrooms, in my bedroom, my whole apartment is flooded. I already had to rip up a carpet because it started getting mildew,” Warren said.
In a different part of Lexington, a portion of Winchester Road was closed around 10 a.m. due to flooding.
Gorilla Shine manager Ryan Adams said he noticed water filling the street quickly.
“Fortunately, our shop is full of drains and we’re kind of up off the street, but our neighbors were not so fortunate,” Adams said.
While Kentucky businesses and homeowners worked to clean up in the aftermath of the flooding, officials with various agencies across the state also responded to reports of flooded roadways, debris, and issued reminders to residents to never drive through a flooded road.
On social media, the Clark County Roads and Solid Waste Department shared images of crews working to clear storm damage. Two of the images show how they made use of snowplows to help remove debris from a flooded portion of the road at Sewell Bottom.
Madison County Emergency Management also shared images of flooding throughout the county on social media.
