‘Overwhelming.’ Sheriff says first flood death in his Ky. county was his great-aunt.

Perry County Sheriff Joe Engle said Saturday that the first person in Perry County that officials confirmed had died in the floodwaters this week turned out to be his 82-year-old great aunt, Nellie Mae “Nell” Howard.

She was at her daughter’s house near a small creek in the Chavies community that had never flooded.

But on Thursday, Engle said, the water “was so quick and furious she couldn’t escape.’

What was hard, Engle said, was that the first family member in the county that he notified of a flood death during this disaster was his own mother, Mary Engle. The sheriff told her that a favorite aunt had died.

“It broke her heart because they were always real close,” Engle told the Herald-Leader. For Engle, “it didn’t all sink in until the end of the day.”

“It’s just overwhelming,” he said. He said Howard was the sister of his grandfather, Perry County Pastor Marion Estep who was the victim of a highly publicized unsolved murder in 2008. “They both died tragically.”

Howard’s granddaughter Angel Campbell said “every time you were around her she talked about God.”

She loved to grow flowers in her yard. She had beautiful roses.

She loved to cook.

“As soon as her eyes opened of the morning, she made her gravy,” said Campbell. “She made gravy every day of her life.”

“She loved her family like no other,” said Angel Campbell, and was always worried about someone else.

When the flood hit, Howard was with her daughter who survived. Patricia Collins, 58, was released from the hospital Saturday.

Howard was always afraid of storms, Campbell said. Anytime it rained she went to Collins’ home in Chavies. That’s where she was on Thursday, when all at once water rushed into the living room.

Campbell said Collins turned to Howard and said, “Mommy, climb upon this kitchen table with me.’’

“As soon as she told mamaw that, she didn’t see her” again, said Campbell. The table came out from under Collins.

“Her boyfriend, Ben Crase was able to grab her hand but the water was so strong it pulled them apart,” said Campbell. They were in the dark.

Collins told Campbell she doesn’t know how she got outside of her home so that neighbors could rescue her. She recalls going in and out of the water and realizing she need to grab onto something. A sectional couch helped protect her, but she received bruises and lacerations. The home was moving down the road and about five homes were crashing into each other like dominoes, Campbell said.

Collins was in the water for as long as two hours, “fighting for her life.” There was lumber piled on top of her.

As of Saturday morning, there had been three deaths from the flooding confirmed in Perry County, In addition to Howard, Perry Deputy Coroner Jeff Combs said David Campbell of Rowdy died in the flood. David Campbell’s daughter, Glenna Bryant, said he was 78. Angel Campbell said she is not related to David Campbell.

Bryant said the water had never been past her father’s porch in past floods. But this time, “it was to the ceiling pretty much,” said Bryant. “My heart is shattered. We wanted so much to save him, but the water was up so high.”

David Campbell was an autobody mechanic and he painted cars. He worked on race cars and in the past raced at Perry County Speedway, said Bryant. He doted on his four grandchildren, he loved people in general, and still grieved for his wife who died in 2021, Bryant said.

Engle lived near David Campbell and would stop by and talk to him: “He was just a good man.”

The third death was a man in the Dwarf community that Combs said had not yet been identified. He was found in some debris on Ky 550 and had no identification. No one at the scene recognized him. Combs said he was setting up a post between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at city hall in Hazard where people could bring a photo identification and fill out a form to report missing family members.

Coroners from other counties have come to Hazard to help, said Combs.

Engle said finding the missing people in the flood was difficult without cell or internet service. Relying on word of mouth is like going back 100 years, he said. Engle said Perry County will try to move forward when everyone is accounted for. On Saturday, he said, the focus was on “preservation of life and removal of bodies.”

“It’s going to take 20 years for some of these communities to recover,” Engle said.

This story was originally published July 30, 2022 at 12:47 PM.