Kentucky floods update as death toll rises to 35 including four children – and 664 people are rescued by helicopter

THE death toll from historic flooding that has wreaked havoc across Kentucky has risen to at least 35, including four children, officials have announced.

Rescue efforts are continuing around the clock and so far more than 660 people have been lifted to safety using helicopters deployed by National Guard units from Kentucky, and .

On Monday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll has risen to 25.

“More tough news. We have confirmed more fatalities from the Eastern Kentucky floods. Our loss now stands at 35. Pray for these families and for those who are missing,” Beshear tweeted.

Over the weekend, Beshear told that the number of fatalities would likely rise and it could take weeks to locate the victims of the record flash flooding in the state.

“This is an ongoing natural disaster. Thankfully, the rain has stopped,” the governor said.

“Just in the last couple days, over 660 air rescues – we’ve got over 30 aircraft up in reconnaissance and rescue mode. Over 600 boat rescues.

“It’s just total devastation the likes of which we have never seen.”

However, the respite is temporary as more rain plagued the region on Sunday.

Rescue crews are struggling to get into hard-hit areas as many roads and bridges are impassable – some of them in areas counted among the poorest places in the United States.

As The Sun previously reported, Amber Smith and Riley Noble are among those who lost loved ones.

Their four children – Maddison, 8, Riley Jr, 6, Nevaeh, 4, and Chance, 18 months – perished while trying to get to safety during the flash flood, according to Amber’s cousin, Brittany Trejo.

Their bodies were found by Friday afternoon.

Another harrowing tale was recounted by Missy Amburgey Crovetti who posted a photo on Facebook of her 98-year-old grandmother, Mae Amburgey, sitting on a bed surrounded by water inside her home.

“My grandmother, Uncle and Brother are trapped in her house across from the high school if anyone has a boat around that area, the water is about 4 feet deep in the house,” the post accompanying the photo read.

Crovetti recounted to the that Mae Amburgey and her son, Larry Amburgey, in his early 70s, later swam out of the house located across from Letcher County Central High School.

“Boats came to them and broke a window at the house,” Crovetti told the paper.

Crovetti said her relatives were “doing a decent job of swimming to the boats, the current was just too swift for them.”

She said the grandmother “got hung up” on a bridge, but rescuers got to her quickly, while her uncle traveled downstream before help arrived.

Crovetti also told the paper that the uncle was on a ventilator for 15 hours at a local hospital after inhaling water.

“He is improving,” he revealed, adding the grandmother suffered a laceration and is also in the hospital under observation.

The Sun has reached out to Crovetti, who now lives in Illinois, for further updates on the condition of the family.

Crovetti has also up a account to help with her grandmother’s expenses as a result of the flood. So far just over $1,000 has been raised.

Flying over parts of the state yesterday to survey the damage, Beshear described the scene as “just total devastation, the likes of which we have never seen, per the Associated Press.

Cell phone service is still out in some counties, and water systems are overwhelmed, per the governor and .

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said he spoke with Kentucky’s governor and Senator Minority Leader to offer “the full support of the federal government to the people of Kentucky.”

Biden quickly approved Beshear’s request for a disaster declaration in Kentucky.

In a today Beshear said: “To everyone in Eastern Kentucky, we are going to be there for you today and in the weeks, months and years ahead. We will get through this together.”