迪伦·洛文（Dylan Lovan），布鲁斯·施雷纳（Bruce Schreiner）和马修·布朗（Matthew Brown）
JACKSON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s governor said it could take weeks to find all the victims of flash flooding that killed at least 16 people when torrential rains swamped towns across Appalachia.
更多的rainstorms are forecast in coming days as rescue crews continue the struggle to get into hard-hit areas, some of them among the poorest places in America.
The rain let up early Friday after parts of eastern Kentucky received between 8 and 10 1/2 inches (20-27 centimeters) over 48 hours. But some waterways were not expected to crest until Saturday and Gov. Andy Beshear warned the death toll could rise further.
Beshear说：“从我们所看到的一切中，我们可能会更新接下来几周我们损失多少的数量。”“在其中一些领域，很难确切知道那里有多少人。”
Patricia Colombo, 63, of Hazard, Kentucky, became stranded when her car stalled in floodwaters on a state highway. Colombo began to panic when water started rushing in. Though her phone was dead, she saw a helicopter overhead and waved it down. The helicopter crew radioed a ground team that plucked her to safety.
科伦坡在她未婚夫在杰克逊的家中呆了一整夜，他们轮流睡觉，一再用手电筒检查水，看看它是否正在上升。尽管她的汽车是损失，但科伦坡说，在贫困地区的一个地区，其他人的损失更糟。
“其中许多人无法在这里康复。他们的房屋是水下一半的房屋，他们失去了一切。”她说。
这是一系列灾难性妄想中的最新一次圣路易斯本周早些时候和again on Friday。Scientists warn climate change is making weather disasters more common.
当降雨撞击阿巴拉契亚时，水从山坡上倒下，进入山谷和空心，在那里它膨胀了小溪和溪流，穿过小镇。洪流吞没了房屋和企业和垃圾车辆。泥石流使一些人在陡峭的斜坡上。
国民警卫队支持的救援队使用直升机和船只寻找失踪者。Beshear周五表示，受害者中至少有六个孩子，随着救援队到达更多地区，损失的总生命数量可能会增加一倍以上。县死因裁判官周五说，在那些死亡的人中，有四个来自诺特县同一家庭的孩子。
乔·拜登（Joe Biden）总统在社交媒体帖子中说，他周五与Beshear进行了交谈，并提供了联邦政府的支持。拜登还宣布，一场联邦灾难将救济资金指向了十几个肯塔基州。
洪水扩展到西弗吉尼亚州和西弗吉尼亚州南部。
州长吉姆正义（Jim Justice）宣布西弗吉尼亚州六个县的紧急状态，在那里淹没的树木，停电和封锁道路。弗吉尼亚州州长格伦·杨金（Glenn Youngkin）也发表了紧急声明，使官员们动员了该州西南地区的资源。
更多的than 20,000 utility customers in Kentucky and almost 6,100 in Virginia remained without power late Friday, poweroutage.us reported.
据科学家称，随着气候变化烘烤地球并改变了天气模式，极端降雨事件变得越来越普遍。对于灾难期间官员来说，这是一个日益严重的挑战，因为用于预测风暴影响的模型部分是部分根据过去的事件，无法跟上with increasingly devastating flash floods and heat waves like those that have recently hit the Pacific Northwest and southern Plains.
俄克拉荷马大学气象学家杰森·富塔多（Jason Furtado）说：“这是一场极端战役。”“这些是由于气候变化而发生的事情。…温暖的气氛可容纳更多的水蒸气，这意味着您可以产生增加的大雨。”
The deluge came two days after record rains around St. Louis dropped more than 12 inches (31 centimeters) and killed at least two people. Last month, heavy rain on mountain snow in Yellowstone National Park triggered historic flooding and theevacuation of more than 10,000 people。在这两种情况下，雨水泛滥远远超过了预报员的预测。
The floodwaters raging through Appalachia were so swift that some people trapped in their homes couldn’t be immediately reached, said Floyd County Judge-Executive Robbie Williams.
Just to the west in hard-hit Perry County, authorities said some people remained unaccounted for and almost everyone in the area suffered some sort of damage.
“We’ve still got a lot of searching to do,” said Jerry Stacy, the county’s emergency management director.
更多的than 330 people have sought shelter, Beshear said. And with property damage so extensive, the governor opened an online portal for donations to the victims.
Beshear预测，完全重建将需要一年多的时间。
The governor got a look at the flooding from aboard a helicopter Friday.
“Hundreds of homes, the ballfields, the parks, businesses under more water than I think any of us have ever seen in that area,” the governor said. “Absolutely impassable in numerous spots. Just devastating.”
Portions of at least 28 state roads in Kentucky were blocked due to flooding or mudslides, Beshear said. Rescue crews in Virginia and West Virginia worked to reach people where roads weren’t passable.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana. Contributors include Rebecca Reynolds in Louisville, Kentucky; Timothy D. Easley in Jackson, Kentucky, and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland.
