FRANKFORT, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed on Saturday that the death toll in the fatal flooding in eastern Kentucky rose to 25. That number includes four siblings from the same family, relatives told news outlets.
The bodies of the four children were recovered in the eastern Kentucky community of Montgomery, located in Knott County, Beshear said at a news conference on Friday. Knott County was the hardest hit by flooding, with 14 bodies recovered so far, WKYT-TV reported.
“It’s gonna get worse,” Beshear told CNN in an interview on Saturday.
Brittany Trejo, a cousin of the children, and Brandi Smith, the siblings’ aunt, identified the four siblings who died in Montgomery, the Lexington Herald-Leader and CNN reported. Authorities have not officially confirmed the names of the children. Deaths have been reported in Knott, Perry, Letcher and Clay counties, according to CNN.
Update: By 12:30 p.m. Friday, the bodies of all four children had been recovered from the Knott County community of Montgomery, a relative said. https://t.co/LvJarhMvpD
— Lexington Herald-Leader (@heraldleader) July 29, 2022
Trejo said that Amber Smith, 23, and Riley Noble, the children’s parents, were found alive, according to the Herald-Leader. The bodies of Riley Noble Jr., 6, and Nevaeh Noble, 4, were recovered on Thursday, Trejo told the newspaper. The bodies of Maddison Noble, 8, and Chance Noble, 18 months, were found Friday morning, she said.
Brandi Smith, the children’s aunt, told CNN that the family’s mobile home became overwhelmed with floodwaters and forced them to climb onto the roof for safety.
“They (parents) were holding on to them,” Brandi Smith told the news outlet. “The water got so strong, it just washed them away.”
Trejo told the Herald-Leader that the family moved to a tree when the “entire underneath” of the mobile home washed away.
“(They) held the children a few hours before a big tide came and wash them all away at the same time,” Trejo told the newspaper. “The mother and father was stranded in the tree for eight hours before anyone got there to help.”
Trejo told The New York Times that her sister and brother-in-law received an alert at about 2 a.m. Thursday. She said that Amber Smith looked out the window and saw “a little bit of water that wasn’t alarming in one moment but became alarming in the next moment.”
The parents took the children outside, but water was surging toward them in all directions, the newspaper reported.
“There was nowhere to go and no place to drive to,” Trejo told the Times.
We’ve got some tough news to share out of Eastern Kentucky today, where we are still in the search and rescue phase. Our death toll has risen to 25 lost, and that number is likely to increase.
— Governor Andy Beshear (@GovAndyBeshear) July 30, 2022
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Rain continued to pelt the family as they huddled in the tree, and their trailer floated away, Trejo told the newspaper.
As the water rose, each of the four children slipped from their parents’ grasp.
“The rage of the water took their children out of their hands,” Trejo told the newspaper.
The parents remained clinging to the tree until they were rescued by a man in a kayak who was rowing from home to home searching for people who needed help, according to the Times.
“They were a very loving family, very close-knit,” Trejo told the newspaper. “Amber has never spent a night away from any of her kids.”
Brandi Smith’s husband, Steven Smith, said that Maddison Noble loved school. Brandi Smith added that Nevaeh Noble liked dolls.
Riley Noble Jr. and Chance Noble spent a great deal of time playing with each other, Steven Smith told the Times.
“Even when they found the bodies, theirs were the closest,” he told the newspaper. “I know they hung on to each other ‘til the very end.”
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