Drivers passing by Paducah, Kentucky on Interstate 24 can see along the road several electronic portable road signs that read “Eyes on the road. It loves the attention.”
Seven confirmed tornadoes touched down and 15 inches of rain fell beginning April 2 and continued for four days.
In response to the rising waters of the Ohio River, the city of Paducah began putting up the gates of its historical floodwall on April 5. Construction concluded on April 7, as the water is nearing the floodwall.
In a phone interview, George Bray, mayor of Paducah, said the city of Paducah has not sustained substantial flooding or damage within the city limits. He said the city has been well protected by the floodwall.
But at Husband Road in McCracken County, Phil and Phyllis Panici tell a very different story.
While the couple said they were okay, their property is completely underwater. They said water is at the deck of their raised house. Phyllis said they rescued their chickens, their cat and their neighbor’s cats and dogs, but their barn is ruined.
“It’s full of water,” Phyllis said. “All the stuff in there is probably a goner.”
They were in the process of saving their belongings from their house via a boat, with the help of rescuers when the News reporter spoke to them.
Phil and Phyllis said they drove back from Chicago to Paducah in the thunderstorm Saturday night with no flooding to be seen, only to wake up the next day and experience a new reality.
Phil said they knew a storm was coming, but he claims there was no warning despite the National Weather Service having the area at high risk.
He also said he’s looked online since the storm but sees information that is eight to 12 hours old. Phil said he has turned on WPSD at night, hoping for new information only to get a report from noon.
“Well, it’s a good station, we watch them, but … gosh,” Phil said.
Phil said they need faster, up-to-date information. He referred to the severity of the storms and the evacuations that have followed, saying what information they’ve gotten is very surprising. He said he and Phyllis would’ve evacuated themselves had they been told to.
“I mean, had I known, we could have got out, and now we’ve resorted to this,” Phil said. “We had to be rescued by boat … we don’t know what’s coming. If you want us to evacuate, tell us. I don’t want to know—I shouldn’t have (known then) by seeing the sheriff’s police pushing an inflated boat down the street, to take ladies and their dogs past us.”
Phil said after “15 inches of rain in four days,” they were very lucky, and talked about the area around them.
“Where that orange barn is, (the water) is halfway up their front door,” Phil said.
“Their refrigerator was literally floating,” Phyllis said.
Phil said a levee north of Husband Road never opened. If it had been opened, it could have relieved the pressure on the area. He said “people saw it from the air with drones” and, while Husband Road is underwater, it is “completely dry” on the other side of the levee.
Phil also said it’s been under construction since they moved into the area.
“Why?” Phil said. “They’ve been working on it the whole time since we moved here. When is it ever going to function, or is it going to function? It makes me wonder what’s the purpose of that thing?”
Phil said he’s been looking at weather services over the last few days and was concerned about the future.
“We really need this to recede,” Phil said.
