Hazard residents picking up the pieces after major flooding

HAZARD, Ky. (FOX 56)—The city of Hazard was hard hit by the weekend flooding, and those affected are left picking up the pieces.

Streets and sidewalks are covered in mud. Homes and businesses were destroyed, and many people were left with only the clothes on their backs.

“I’ve lost my pictures, my memories, everything. I don’t know what to do,” resident and flood survivor Judith Combs said.

Picking up the pieces after tragedy—that’s the situation many Kentuckians just like Judith, her husband, their dog, and four puppies are now in.

“It’s just a mess. I don’t know what to do,” Judith said.

Video shows just how fast water levels can rise, completely changing the landscape and countless lives.

“We went to sleep at 10 o’clock. Within six, seven hours, it was up to the windows, and before, you know, before too long, it was gone. So there’s nothing left,” Hazard resident and flood survivor Justin Campbell said.

Tragedy can show the best in humanity, though.

Opening a warm place to stay as snow falls and river water recedes, Clemons, founder and CEO of the nonprofit Roscoe’s Daughter, said donations are needed now more than ever.

“Our shelter’s full of families with children and with animals and they’re all on cots, which we’re grateful to have this space, but we really need help,” Clemons said.

She said the community is still in recovery mode from July 2022, when floodwaters engulfed much of the region, and this is just another setback.

“Lives remain at risk,” Clemons said. “We still have people living in their cars. They have no home to go to. We have several families who’ve had complete devastation of their homes two-and-a-half years ago just got them recovered and lost their homes again.”

But losing everything puts other things into perspective.

“It’s hard, but I’ll start over, and I’ll do better next time,” Judith said. “I gotta look at it that way. God’s on my side.”

For more information on how to help or donate to Roscoe’s Daughter, click here.