Rural Kentucky suffers significant flooding with more rain on the way

BOSTON, Ky. (WAVE) – For decades, Eddie Baker has counted the rising Lick Creek inch by inch. With PVC pipes in his yard, he’s watched the water rise from the heavy rains that slammed Kentucky this week.

“It’s pretty stressful,” he said. “Not even the good Lord knows where the stopping point of rising water will be.”

Baker’s been through too many floods to count; 1997, 2010, and even in February. It’s enough experience to have handling it down to a science. He had a friend helping him raise his belongings above the 2010 water line.

“I didn’t mind it so much back then,” Baker said. “But now it’s just a headache.”

Rivers and streams have already seen water rise well beyond their normal banks.

In neighboring Nelson County, the Chaplin River meets Cartwright Creek creating the perfect storm for flooding.

“This one’s just different,” resident Derek McIntire said.

McIntire has to use a kayak to reach his home of 12 years. Friends and family have helped him and his wife prepare for flooding before the first raindrop even fell.

It’s an exhausting process that’s only going to continue as more rain rolls through.

“Honestly I ain’t had time to think about it,” McIntire said. “Got two kids at homes, we’re staying with my dad so it’s take care of them, make sure they’re all good, come back here, do what we got to do, check on them. It is what it is.”

After flooding time and time again, Baker says this one might be the last time.

“If it gets like it did in 2010, if it does I don’t think I’m going to stay,” he said.

Copyright 2025 WAVE. All rights reserved.