‘If Noah survived it, we can too’: Pike County church continues flood recovery process

PIKE COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) - In July 2022, floods rocked much of the region, and the First Baptist Church of Myra felt the impact and devastation.

“It was a total shock. We have never seen anything like this,” said Pastor Dave Hammond. “We had 7 foot of water downstairs. It was estimated over 87 million gallons went downstairs.”

Hammond says not much was left inside the basement of the church and much of the upstairs sanctuary has changed, but groups from here in the mountains and from across the country have come to the church’s aid.

“We’ve had four Mennonite groups come from Pennsylvania, we’ve had a group out of Rochester, Minnesota come and help us, Simpsonville Baptist build our stage, Alabama Disaster Crew has come,” said Hammond.

Hammond also said donations have flooded in from churches and organization across the country and even former UK football player, now NFL offensive lineman, Landon Young.

“Across the nation we have had people give toward the rebuild of this church even an offensive lineman for the New Orleans Saints called and gave a great gift to our church to rebuild and he’s truly a saint, Landon Young,” said Hammond.

Hammond says, after everything is put back together, the church should be able to be rededicated by Easter. Despite the damage, the church continues to make an impact and has placed an inspiring message on its sign.

“I just thought if Noah survived the flood, we will too, and we put that on our sign out there,” said Hammond. “It’s touched a lot of people who have read it. I’ve had a lot of comments about how that spoke to them that if Noah survived it, we can to.”

Hammond also said he would like to thank each and every donation and group that has come to help from here in the region and across the nation.

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