VIDEO: Last week's Kentucky flood disaster was America's deadliest non-tropical flash flood in 45 years.
At least 37 were killed in eastern Kentucky after 6 to 9 inches of rain fell in just 12 hours last Thursday, triggering record flooding on the North Fork Kentucky River in Jackson and Whitesburg, and damaging flooding in several other towns. Some homes were swept away by the raging floodwaters, and many more in valleys were flooded.
In the five days that followed, over 1,300 people were rescued, but crews were still pushing to reach those still cut off by mudslides and washed-out roads or bridges, according to the Associated Press. By a flash flood, we're referring to a flood that happens quickly on the order of minutes or hours, with rapid rises in streams, creeks, rivers or urban areas due to torrential rain over a smaller area.