‘We lost everything:’ flooding causes devastating damage in Breathitt Co.

JACKSON, Ky. (WKYT) - The Town Hill Road community in Jackson was underwater Friday evening. By Saturday morning, most of the water from the flooding had receded, making the devastating damage left behind extremely clear.

Bethany Smith and Jesse Nickell were evicted from their home last month. They moved into a friend’s home in Jackson Thursday night. That friend woke them up Friday morning as water was rushing toward their home.

“She came in barging and we had to get dressed real quick she was like, ‘the river’s in the backyard,’” said Smith.

Kasey Burton is the friend who woke them up Friday morning. Burton says all she could think about was making sure her family was safe.

“Getting them out, getting my husband and my cats. We lost everything but we’re here to help the community now so that’s all I care about, other people’s safety,” said Burton.

Despite losing everything inside of her home, Burton is quick to point out that there are some who lost even more.

“There’s kids that lost their lives. There’s six of them that died and I have a 9-year-old boy. If I would have lost him, it would have been over,” said Burton.