Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear on the aftermath of devastating floods

Judy Woodruff:

As William reported, the forecast may only bring more pain to Kentucky.

For the latest about the terrible damage and losses there, I spoke moments ago with Governor Andy Beshear.

Governor Beshear, thank you very much for joining us.

You have said that the loss in Eastern Kentucky is unimaginable. Since then, there have been even more fatalities announced. Where do things stand right now?

Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY):

Well, we are still in the midst of this flooding and of this disaster. We are not out of the woods yet.

The forecast tonight could bring more flooding and more flooding overnight, when people are normally asleep. That's when the worst of this hit. It's one of the reasons it's been so deadly, along with record rainfall.

As we are talking here right now, I think we have lost 37 Kentuckians. But we know there are more bodies, and we will be finding them for weeks. Some, we find miles away from where they were lost. And for those that are still with us, first of all, they will all say to a person they're blessed to still be here. But they have lost everything, their home, every possession, all their important documents. I mean everything.

It is another tough day in Eastern Kentucky. But we are tough people. So we are banding together. We're cleaning out. We will find every person praying that as many of them are still with us as possible. And when we get out of the emergency situation, we will rebuild, because that's what we do.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, we are so sorry for each and every loss that you have experienced and the losses that are to come.

Give us a sense of why you think it is going to take weeks to get a full grasp of what you have lost here.

Gov. Andy Beshear:

Well, the area that this has hit is extensive.

It is probably about 16 counties in the end. And with that amount of people that have been impacted, even getting an idea of how many people are unaccounted for is a challenge. Some of these hollers, that some of these gullies, we don't have a good number of how many people were living there to begin with.

And then this water, so violent, so high, flooding places that have never been flooded before, can carry people or things a great distances. And there are homes that we don't even know where a piece of them are, not one piece. They are gone. Only the foundation is there. We can't find one bit of it.

Now, we hope that we won't see significant additional flooding tonight. It's going to be a great challenge and then rebuilding. A lot of these folks don't have flood insurance because it is virtually unaffordable. And some of the areas that have flooded don't flood, right, don't flood.

And so it's going to be a challenge. But, again, in Kentucky, we're people who love one another. We open our hearts and our homes to each other. And I know the state. And certainly I, as governor, am going to be there with them every step of the way, every day, every week and every year it takes to rebuild.

Judy Woodruff:

And I hear you suggesting, Governor, that these are — the people most affected or people who didn't have a great deal to begin with.

Gov. Andy Beshear:

Yes, that's what's so mean about this one and a lot of what we saw on the tornadoes in December.

Those that lost everything here didn't have much to begin with and scrapped together probably for years, maybe even decades for what they had. And, listen, than they're proud — and they should be — of everything that they were able to build in their lives, and now all of it gone.

But our goal is to pick them back up and to get them back to the point they were at as quickly as we can. That won't be overnight. They have experienced a lot of trauma, but, listen, our commitment, as people of faith and values is to our fellow human being. And we're going to stand there with them.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, there's every reason to think that there are going to be future extreme weather events in Kentucky, as well as around the rest of the country.

What does your state need to do to minimize the loss of life and damage from these events?

Gov. Andy Beshear:

Well, we need to continue to be weather-aware, to have more ways to communicate with people in advance and to be able to not only predict, but to have the information earlier on how severe something may be.

So we need to build back stronger. We need our bridges to be able to withstand more. But whether it was an F4 tornado in December that stayed on the ground for 200 miles in Kentucky, or flooding the levels of which an area that may even regularly flood has never seen, what we really needed here was more time and more information to get people out.

But we do need to build more resilient. We are seeing more severe weather, and we want our people to be safe.

Judy Woodruff:

And, Governor, finally for those watching and listening to you, what would you say if they want to offer to help? How can they do that?

Gov. Andy Beshear:

First, I'd say, thank you. We need your help. And we will take every single bit of it.

The donations that people are giving, what we really need are water, cleaning supplies, household goods. The one thing we don't need are people's used clothing. We appreciate the gesture, but it overwhelms our folks very quickly.

And then we have a fund, the Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund. It's 100 percent transparent. Every single dollar will go to help people who've been impacted. There will be no administrative fees. And the first thing we're going to do is, we're going to pay for every funeral. Nobody's going to have to apply.

We know who these folks are. We will grieve together as a people, as a state, and as a country. And everybody out there that's watching, pray for us. Please help us. But know that we greatly appreciate you and feel your love.

Judy Woodruff:

Well, I know the country grieves with you and certainly wishes you the best in these just very, very difficult days.

Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, thank you so much.

Gov. Andy Beshear:

Thank you.