WEST POINT, Ky. (WHAS11) – With the Ohio and Salt Rivers at historic levels, residents of West Point, Kentucky are bracing for even more of their friends and neighbors to flood.
Jerry Board and his sister Debbie Currell have lived in West Point long enough to know this isn't an ordinary flood.
“We get engulfed from all angles and right now the water is coming in from every which angle and now it's just kind of building an island in the middle of town,” resident Jerry Board said. “It's not quite as bad as '97, it's still got a little ways to go.”
Debbie Currell said, “I never experienced a big flood, so they're rare, but they do happen and this one was just another one of those bad ones.”
Debbie's home is dry for now. Her family helped move everything out anticipating that will change as the Ohio River continues to rise.
“Yesterday we pulled up about 11:00 and Jerry, my brother, already has a rental truck backed up here. Probably 10 people were already in here and they probably already took half of my furniture.”
Officials in West Point tell WHAS11 News about a quarter of the town's residents have water in their homes at this point.
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“I've got a buddy of mine that his house is just completely engulfed and he was telling me yesterday that he probably wouldn't be back in his house until Derby,” Board said.
When asked if his buddy would come back, Board said, “Oh absolutely. He loves the river and you have to love the river to live here – you really do.”
Residents in West Point are banding together to salvage what they can from homes that are already flooded and also homes they expect by midday Monday when the river reaches its crest.