PIKE COUNTY, Ky. (WYMT) – The community of Coal Run in Pike County suffered severe flooding following heavy rains on Saturday morning, which caused structural damage throughout the city.

“The town of Coal Run is devastated,” said Coal Run Mayor Andrew H. Scott. “There are people without bridges to their homes, there are structures that lean towards streams, there are roads that are no longer safe due to the erosion that has occurred under the asphalt. “

Community members like Vernon Blackburn, who has lived in Coal Run for many years, said they had never experienced anything like it before.

“Well I went to get my wife out of bed, I said, ‘get out of this bed, we might have to go up the stairs’, I said I had never seen anything like this before” , Blackburn said.

Mayor Scott said with the extent of the damage across town, Coal Run will need extra help to get back to where it belongs.

“We have residents helping out, we have our city team here, our maintenance crews, we even have our security and police here working on that,” Scott said. “We don’t have a free hand, we all have our hands on the bridge and we all need our hands on the bridge at the state and federal levels with help.”

Mayor Scott said many of the repairs will take months. He added that while there are several damaged properties that need to be maintained, he feels grateful that there have been no injuries or fatalities reported.

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