CARLISLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — Dozens of community members gathered outside the courthouse in downtown Carlisle Tuesday to ask Gov. Andy Beshear when they would receive much-needed relief following a severe flash flood.
Many asked questions about what to do next, after losing all of their belongings or having their homes condemned. Beshear said FEMA would tour the damage on Thursday and he encouraged people struggling with insurance claims to get in contact with his office.
"The last five days has been a nightmare," said Barbara Bashaw, owner of Bashaw Realty & Auction in Carlisle.
Her business was flooded, but she said she'd been most concerned with community members who lost everything.
"All their furniture sitting out on the streets. No food. No clothes. No cars. Couldn't go anywhere," she said.
She was glad to hear FEMA would soon visit the community, she said.
"Give us relief," she said, "because these people need a dry place to sleep."
Some in the crowd raised frustrations with how long it took the governor and other state leaders to visit Carlisle following last week's flood.
"I was sad that it took five days for him to get here but I was really happy that he's going to look at these insurance companies and he's going to support us," Bashaw said.
For Bradley Trussell, who had to empty his home following the flooding, it's hard to know where to go from here.
"I really don't know," he said. "I'm just at a loss for words."
But, he said, he has faith the community will come together to help each other recover.
"It may take five or six, seven, eight months, whatever it takes," he said, "but I think everybody will be back to some kind of normalcy in the end."
