A year after deadly flooding, governor's race comes to still-recovering Eastern Kentucky

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. − Gov. Andy Beshear stood under a tent in the corner of a dirt field, narrowly dodging the already oppressive heat early Thursday morning in Prestonsburg.

An hour away in Hazard, his Republican opponent for governor, Daniel Cameron, was kicking off the first of four campaign stops across Eastern Kentucky - the last major region of the state Cameron hadn’t campaigned in yet.

“On the anniversary of the floods,” Cameron said later in the day, “I just want to reinforce to the folks here that, you know, our hearts are with them. And we want to do whatever we can.”

A year prior, floods swept through the region, killing 45 Kentuckians and destroying scores of homes in the already struggling area.

The dueling visits - Beshear’s on official business, Cameron’s in campaign mode - intersected with the first anniversary of the floods, sparking reflections on the flood, the government’s response and the role of the region in the nationally watched governor’s race.

In the immediate aftermath of the flooding, it wasn’t uncommon to see politicians out helping. A month post-floods, Beshear and the GOP-dominated legislature had a rare moment of unity in a special session that sent millions of dollars in relief to the region.

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But in the weeks and months that followed, survivors and their communities said they felt forgotten by their politicians. The help they needed, simply didn’t arrive.

Now, a year later, amid the governor’s race and dueling visits from the candidates, how does the region’s recovery intersect with the state’s politics?

Housing slow to materialize

Robbie Williams’ native Floyd County looked much different a year ago.

“Seeing the fear and uncertainty in their eyes as to how they will put their lives back together - that was a sobering experience,” the county judge-executive said Thursday morning, standing near the same dirt field as Beshear.

The plot of land he spoke on will eventually hold 20 new affordable homes. Another one across the railroad tracks will have 14 more.

What Beshear has delivered for Floyd County, along with the rest of the flood-devastated region of Eastern Kentucky, has been “extraordinary,” said Williams, an independent.

In the year since the flooding, Beshear’s administration, alongside local governments and housing advocates, has announced multiple “higher ground” locations across the region - ideally including affordable housing with schools and senior living centers.

“We made a promise that day - not me, us - that we would rebuild every home,” Beshear told the crowd. “But as we sit here today, at the one year anniversary, knowing there's still so much work to do.

“Folks, recovery shouldn't be our goal,” Beshear said. “Revitalization should. When an area has been through all of this after facing challenges for the decades before, it's not enough simply to rebuild structures.”

While welcoming the long-term initiatives, several community advocates pleaded for months that survivors needed help immediately - not at some undetermined time later.

Thursday, Beshear shared some of those concerns. Despite the first housing site being announced seven months ago, ground hasn't been broken on any.

The reason given: federal bureaucracy.

“I'm disappointed that we haven't been able to break ground yet,” Beshear told reporters. “But if we did too early, we lose that $300 million in federal funding.”

And the flood ravaged the region’s water and sewer systems, causing around $1 billion in damage, further delaying the projects.

Unlike other previously announced “higher ground” spots, the new two in Prestonsburg have the water (local firefighters told Beshear the water pressure at the location is “really good”), sewer and power hookups generally ready to go - possibly meaning a groundbreaking sooner than later.

And officials have a plan to ensure flood survivors - many of whom were forced into an already treacherous shortage of affordable housing after losing their homes last July - are able to afford the new homes, Williams said.

The housing will not be government subsidized. Rather, survivors will get to own the home.

Officials will have different programs depending on each survivor’s situation, Williams said. They have some organizations lined up to help with some upfront money, and then the Kentucky Housing Corp. will step in with loans that are forgiven after a certain period.

During the morning’s press conference, Beshear touted help to the broader region besides new housing outside of the floodplain. A Mountain Parkway expansion. Water and sewer system improvements. Better broadband access.

“What that's going to mean, what it means, is a better tomorrow,” Beshear said. “Not just people stabilized - people truly moving forward.”

The next day, Beshear headed to Knott County to announce another housing site. This one will have 200 homes.

Cameron on Republican ground

Around noon, Cameron - the Republican gubernatorial hopeful - started his second campaign stop of the day.

To a small crowd gathered in the back room of a Whitesburg restaurant, freshman Republican state Rep. Jacob Justice shared an anecdote of how Cameron showed up immediately after the floods to help out at a local high school.

No news crews, no photo ops, he said, just a helping hand. The crowd applauded. (Everyone in this room has had a terrible year, a local GOP leader said after the event while watching people pose for photos with Cameron or his campaign signs.)

Cameron started his speech by commending the town for “how much resolve you show in the midst of incredible challenges, how much resolve you continue to show as you continue to rebuild this area and continue to work to clean up the debris that is still here.

“I want you to know, that as the next governor of Kentucky, I'm going to work alongside you to make sure that we rebuild, that we restore hope and heal communities all across not only Letcher County, Eastern Kentucky as a whole.”

Then Cameron’s stump speech started kicking in, drawing particular interest in his defense of reopening churches early in the COVID-19 pandemic and a few culture war issues.

It might be a small turnout for the day, one of the attendees offered while looking out the window, waiting for Cameron. But know the county is solidly red, he continued.

The county judge-executive is Republican, and Justice, the state rep who introduced Cameron, is another Republican who flipped a statehouse seat away from Democrat Angie Hatton, a prominent fixture in the immediate aftermath of the floods.

Several Eastern Kentucky counties have been historically deep blue. Some, like Breathitt, continue to post the highest figures of Democrats in the state.

Well, registered Democrats, at least.

At Cameron’s next stop in Harlan, county Judge-Executive Dan Mosley - who himself switched from being a lifelong Democrat to registering Republican in 2021 - shared an anecdote about recently getting a letter from President Joe Biden in the mail.

It was addressed to his grandfather, who he described as a “yellow dog Democrat” who had also been dead for nearly two years.

What does that tell you, he asked the crowd.

In 1978, two-thirds of Harlan County was registered Democrat. That figure shrank only slightly by October 2017. Right before the 2020 presidential election, it had dropped to a little over half.

And by October 2022, Harlan County had flipped to red, with 54% of voters registered Republican.

The region started going red in presidential elections in the aughts, and that trend has sunk in deeper in the years since - including since the 2019 governor’s race, where most of the flood-hit counties went for former Gov. Matt Bevin.

Between some of the counties getting even redder over the last four years and Beshear’s impact on flood recovery, it is difficult to say if things will change this fall.

In Harlan, which wasn’t heavily impacted by the floods, the day’s anniversary didn’t come up in Cameron’s talking points.

And a few hours later at his last stop in Pineville - in Bell County, even further away from the impacted region - it didn’t come up, either.

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Flooding victims remember

Cars lined the curb and filled nearly every parking spot in the small downtown of Hindman - a Knott County town of less than 700 that was one of the most devastated places hit by the flooding. More than 150 people covered the yard of city hall, spilling into the sidewalks and onto the shoulder of the road, one or two taking a seat across the street entirely.

David Graham, an Ohio man better known to some as “the Cowboy Who Cares” who appears as a gentle listening ear in the aftermath of disaster, stands near the road, gesturing to cars to slow down so the crowd can hear the speakers.

A year later, they’re getting ready to unveil a monument to the 22 people the county lost in the floods.

It is a somber end to the day - a clear contrast to the buzzy hope of Beshear’s morning announcement in Floyd County or the political energy of Cameron’s campaign stops further south.

It is the largest crowd of the day’s events. There were a handful of city and county leaders, but no state lawmakers present. Nor were there any gubernatorial candidates.

This was for the community - the same neighbors that saved each other and rallied around themselves throughout a year of recovery.

People passed out paper lanterns and candles for a brief memorial service, as others caught up with others and remembered lost loved ones. There was no talk of politics.

In the gentle breeze, one person’s candle was blown out. A neighbor walked over to quickly light it again.

Reach Olivia Krauth at okrauth@courierjournal.com and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How much has changed in Eastern Kentucky a year after deadly flooding?