BREATHITT COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) — Friday marks six months since devastating washed through eastern Kentucky.
Thousands lost their homes, and more than 40 Kentuckians lost their lives.
Recovery efforts are well underway, but there is still much work that needs to be done.
Roads that once looked more like a river with boats floating on them, once again have cars driving on top.
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“It’s like something out of a movie,” said Robert Anderson. “You know, the devastations that you they come up with in movies to make you say, wow, you know, can that really happen? Yes, it can really happen.”
Floodwaters have receded in Breathitt County but victims still say it still feels like their drowning.
“Looking at it every day, dealing with it every day,” Anderson explained. “Even my wife got depressed and her friends, our neighbors they just moved away. They said we’re not going to deal with it anymore.”
Anderson and his family are unable to live in their home currently as they need to put a basement in by September in order to abide by FEMA restrictions.
After living in a church an hour away for several months, they are now in a trailer.
Despite all this though, Anderson has no plans to leave eastern Kentucky as like many who call the region home, his roots run deep.
“Generation after generation has lived here, OK. This is their home,” Anderson explained.
The rebuilding process isn’t easy.
“The people in the communities that was hard hit, lost everything,” Anderson said. “They need a little hope.”
But Anderson said he is focusing on signs of progress and the brighter days ahead.
“It’s a country song, but it’s our motto. A country boy can survive. Country folk can survive,” he said.
With how much work needed to be done in the region, Anderson said volunteers are always needed to help rebuild and he is hopeful once warmer weather comes, more people will help.