A 90-year-old woman was rescued from her home after it was smashed by a mudslide during heavy rains in Stanton, Kentucky.
Stanton Fire Department Assistant Chief Eddie Barnes said emergency workers arrived at the two-story home last Monday morning to find its second floor collapsed on top of the first after a mudslide knocked its foundations.
He said rescuers located the woman under layers that included the floor and brick wall of her home. According to Barnes, it took four hours to get the woman out of the rubble.
Heavy rain caused the slide as it pummeled the area last Sunday and early Monday.
Steve Asbury, Powell County Emergency Management Director, stated that the woman was conscious and alert when she was taken to the hospital. Asbury added that a nearby road was closed until authorities can assess the situation and declare the area safe.
In another area of Kentucky, authorities say a man died after a family’s vehicle was swept away as they tried to cross a flooded bridge after heavy rains moved through the area.
Spencer County Sheriff Scott Herndon told news outlets that a water rescue was made by emergency crews early Monday and a woman and two children were found alive. The body of the man could not be located initially but was found six hours later.
Herndon says the woman and one of the children was found clinging to a tree, while the other child was found 20 minutes later farther downstream on a bank. It’s still unknown who was driving the SUV at the time it was knocked off the bridge, and Herndon says their investigation will continue.
Herndon warned that people shouldn’t try to cross a bridge or a road with water running over it.