Beshear: Death toll from Eastern Kentucky flooding rises to 43
Two more people have died as a result of the historic flood that devastated parts of Eastern Kentucky in July, Gov. Andy Beshear announced on Thursday.
The deaths were one person in Breathitt County and one in Letcher County, Beshear said.
The total deaths from the flood now stands at 43, with one woman — Vanessa Baker of Breathitt County — still missing.
Beshear said these deaths were “caused by health conditions directly arising from the flooding.”
The governor did not name the victims.
But, since the previous Team Kentucky update the body of one missing woman, 29-year-old Nancy Cundiff of Breathitt County, was recovered near Troublesome Creek.
Additionally, 97-year-old Mae Amburgey of Letcher County died Oct. 8 of “a broken heart,” her family said. A photo of Amburgey sitting in her home, surrounded by four feet of water, went viral in the flood’s aftermath.
“I think if it hadn’t been for the flood, if she hadn’t suffered that trauma, I think she would have still been with us,” her granddaughter, Missy Amburgey Crovetti, said.
Beshear said the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund will pay for the funerals of the two additional flood victims.
