FALMOUTH, Ky. — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that Pendleton County will be included in the state's third request to the federal government for individual assistance after the April 4-6 floods.
The announcement offers a potential glimmer of hope for Falmouth residents who have been waiting for relief.
"I believe that Pendleton County will be in our third request for counties. Initial information that we received wouldn't have qualified. We knew that there was more damage that's been there," Beshear said in response to a question WCPO asked during a virtual press conference.
The governor explained the commonwealth’s standard practice is to first submit counties with the worst, most easily documented destruction in their requests to FEMA.
WATCH: We ask Beshear about the status of relief for Pendleton County:
"We've done it several times and we're going to continue to follow this track until FEMA or others tell us that a different approach would be better," Beshear said.
Last week, the federal government approved individual assistance for 13 Kentucky counties.
Pendleton County was not one of them.
"We have not been successful to get our county on that list," Falmouth Mayor Sabrina Hazen said Wednesday.
However, county officials believe that will change. Hazen spent Thursday taking FEMA damage assessors to evaluate damaged homes. The goal is to document the extent of the damage throughout the community to meet federal requirements.
"We're trying to find our most impacted homes to get reassessed, to see if we can meet the threshold or whatever requirement that they're wanting us to meet to get us on that list," Hazen said.
Brad Carroll, a Falmouth resident whose garage was flooded, destroying inventory he had stored for upcoming flea markets, welcomed the damage assessment, but said he’s frustrated that it’s yet another step in an arduous bureaucratic process.
"I'm in limbo. What I am is I'm worn out," Carroll said.
Carroll must document each of the hundreds of items damaged in the flood for even a chance at receiving relief money that’s not guaranteed.
Watch my story detailing what Brad is going through from last week:
"The mayor and the judge seem like they're wanting to help, but this is up to the government," Carroll said.
He has since put out a sign pushing President Trump and Vice President JD Vance to instruct FEMA to help “make Falmouth great again” and declare a disaster.
With damaged HVAC units and hot water heaters across the city, Falmouth's mayor said the situation is growing worse for residents as the weather heats up.
"Those are costly expenses for a community that a lot of people just don't have those means," Hazen said.
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