Several EKY counties reporting damage from ongoing flash flooding

EASTERN KENTUCKY (WYMT) - The damage is widespread and significant following what can only be described as an historic flash flooding event across the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and surrounding states.

After several rounds of rain moved through the region in preceding days, an area of slow-moving thunderstorms developed across portions of the Kentucky River Valley, dumping several inches of rain. That rain, accumulating several inches in a short period of time, fell on already saturated ground, causing creeks and streams to pour out of their banks.

The National Weather Service’s Forecast Office in Jackson reported 4.11″ inches of rain on Wednesday, surpassing the previous daily record for July 27 of 1.37 inches. That total also exceeded the previous high water mark for record daily rainfall for the entire month of July, which was 3.04 inches, set back during another significant flooding event on July 14, 2015.

Thursday morning, Gov. Andy Beshear held a live conference to talk about the flooding in Eastern Kentucky. You can watch that below.

The office also issued at least three rarely used Flash Flood Emergencies for portions of the Kentucky River Valley.

Flash flooding has been reported throughout Breathitt, Leslie, Letcher, Knott, Magoffin, Perry, Pike, and Wolfe Counties in Kentucky, as well as Dickenson and Wise Counties in Virginia along with the independent City of Norton.

The City of Hazard posted some flooding updates on its Facebook page. You can see those below:

As of 8:30 a.m., more than 20,000 people are without power, most of those being Kentucky Power customers. You can find the latest outages here.

Below are several photos and videos sent in by viewers of the damage floodwaters have done throughout the region.