by SHELDON LEE COMPTON
Rain began in Pike County, Kentucky just before nightfall Saturday, February 15. It would rain throughout the night, not stopping until midday Sunday.
By Sunday afternoon, run off from the hills surrounding my house (caused by saturated ground from snowstorms less than two weeks ago) and started to clog and destroy my drain pipe in the creek beside my house.
It would continue, but hold off from spilling into my yard. The rest of Pike County would not be so lucky.
However, the runoff from the hill behind my house had put my electric in peril.
First responders pulled elderly residents and young alike from flooded homes, cars floating down the Big Sandy, and from areas where they were so stranded it would require swift water rescue crews with boats and related gear to reach them.
The Big Sandy was several feet from cresting along Cassidy Boulevard in Pikeville, the county seat, though the ground along the higher banks was saturated and would be underwater within the hour.
Before the rains stopped Sunday, with only one day with downpours, three counties across the Big Sandy Region was significantly underwater. Across the commonwealth, 11 people lost their lives. Three of those were Pike Countians, including Gary Daniels, a man who public officials said took his last breath while on the phone with emergency first responders who were unable to reach him in time.