LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Restoration efforts are still underway more than a week after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on several states.

Hundreds of linemen from Kentucky have been boots on the ground in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia ever since.

With Hurricane Milton rolling in, WKYT checked in with Kentucky Electric Cooperatives to ask about their plan.

“There are more than 160 co-op employees, which is in addition to hundreds of contractors who have been released by the co-ops,” said Joe Arnold with Kentucky Electric Cooperatives.

Arnold says more than half of the 26 electric co-ops in Kentucky sent crews to devastated sites, primarily in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

“It’s like a military operation. You’re trying to assess all the needs, where things are most critical and you’re going to move troops, linemen, around depending upon what that need is,” Arnold said.

Arnold says KY Electric Cooperatives’ role is to coordinate the deployment of the state’s individual co-ops.

He says even with Hurricane Milton barreling toward the Gulf Coast, Kentucky crews will likely stay where they are so as not to walk out on North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

“The concern from a macro-sense that we’re seeing right now, is the Florida co-op crews have been very helpful and part of that team of more than 20 states that have sent crews into North Carolina and South Carolina, for instance,” Arnold said. “Those crews have to be called back to help with their own local co-ops. That’s going to create a void.”

Arnold says some crews in Kentucky could be called to Florida, but the co-ops still have to keep ample resources here.

“You can’t send everybody, unfortunately, because you have to take care of the folks who are back home here as well,” Arnold said.

Arnold says that for those asking what sending our linemen elsewhere does for us, it’s not only our civic duty but also that it gives them real-world training to be better equipped to handle future emergencies here.

“These same cooperatives came to our aid here in Kentucky after windstorms and ice storms,” Arnold said. “We know some of these linemen that are working shoulder-to-shoulder there. This is very personal to them. I think it’s been hard on them. I think they’re seeing a lot of suffering.”

Arnold said when crews here packed up to go, they packed for several weeks. He says they’re working up to 15 hours daily and living in tent cities to help reconstruct utility poles and more.

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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. — Housing affordability is a critical issue in northern Kentucky where home prices continue to outpace wage growth. Many of the essential workers the region depends on are struggling to achieve the “American Dream” of homeownership, according to a study.

“The narrative has been for many years that we need affordable housing, which is kind of a euphemism for: we need subsidized housing. And we absolutely do need that. But there’s a whole other set of people that work full-time jobs, they’re not on welfare, they’re not on public assistance, but they can’t afford a home either. Because housing prices have risen so much faster than wages,” said Janet Harrah, senior director of the Center for Economic Analysis and Development in the Haile College of Business at Northern Kentucky University. 

She said there is a large swath of what used to be considered “very solid middle-class families,” but “those occupations are no longer middle class. Things like teachers, LPNs, firefighters, police officers, they can no longer afford a median price home in northern Kentucky.”

Harrah put together a study showing the disparity between median home prices and household income in northern Kentucky, which is further broken down by occupation.

A household must earn at least $69,920 annually to afford a median-priced home in Northern Kentucky, which is currently $291,720. This follows the rule that no more than 30% of income should go toward housing costs, with those exceeding considered “house burdened.”

“The bad news is we have lots of people that live and work here that really can’t afford to get into the housing market,” Harrah said. “The good news is that compared to other markets, Cincinnati is still very affordable. Not just northern Kentucky, but the whole metro area.”

Of the 630 detailed occupations in the study, just 177 or 28% can comfortably afford a median-priced home. Harrah said if current trends continue, northern Kentucky risks becoming unaffordable for the very workers who keep the region running.

“We need teachers, we need nurses, we need fire and police,” she said. “So we as a community need to figure out how do we make that job pay enough that they can still have a good quality of life and live in our community?”

Harrah said she doesn’t expect housing prices to decrease anytime soon. However, she said if people can wait another six to 12 months, she expects interest rates to go down, making it easier for people to buy a home.

OWSLEY COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Sunday, FEMA released numbers and financial assistance updates for several states, but some people have taken to Facebook claiming they are being denied.

A similar situation happened to a Booneville, Kentucky grocery store owner, Bart Pattons, who lost his store in a massive flood in a Summer 2021.

LEX 18 spoke with Patton’s wife Julie back in 2021 when the flooding first hit their store. She showed off the major damage it had experienced.

“Everything in the store had to be thrown away. Everything. Noting was usable as far as groceries were concerned. Every item in the store had to go away. We’re talking about a lot of items. 15,000 items. Just different items. It all had to be trashed,” describes Bart who still gets teary eyed thinking about it.

Bart says he turned to FEMA assistance to help them back on their feet, but was met with refusal instead.

“We didn’t get any responses from FEMA at all. Thank goodness for our insurance and we were able to live through a problem or the store wouldn’t be there if we didn’t,” explains Bart who says they were never given a reason as to why they were denied.

Bart also admits he did not call FEMA after his application was denied to get answers as to why it was denied.

As of Sunday, the southeast is trying to survive after Hurricane Helene tore through six states and flattened
several cities.

FEMA announced federal assistance for survivors has passed $137 million. According to its website, the organization has approved of more than $30 million dollars in housing and other assistance to more than 27,000 households in North Carolina.

However, several people have taken to Facebook to state their FEMA assistant applications have been denied and those approved will only receive $750. FEMA claims that $750 is for those who applied for ‘Serious Needs Assistance’to cover essential items like food, water, baby formula, diapers, etc.

LEX 18 reached out to FEMA in Kentucky but have not received a call back.

“Just pray as though it depends on God. Act as though it depends on you. That’s about as simple statement as you can make cause you’re all you got,” said Bart.

Bart says the pain from that day is still fresh. The couple isn’t fully back on their feet yet.

His message to those going through the flood right now is be there for one another and help anyone who needs it.

If you would like to help those affected by Helene you can donate through American Red Cross.