Riverfront property sounds alluring until your yard is under ten feet of water and you're evacuating your home by boat. That's exactly what Bridgette Morris experienced last month in McLean County when the Green River overflowed behind her house on South Canal Street in the town of Rumsey. She's now back home and left to clean up what looks like a swamp.
"It actually don't smell nowhere near as bad as it did the other day here," Morris said as she walked around her property. "The other day you couldn't even breathe it stunk so bad."
Morris surveyed all the random items from other homes that have floated to her yard.
"Everybody and anybody's business is all in your yard," Morris said in disbelief. "I don't know who's tires these are. I don't know whose table that is. I have no idea who that microwave belongs to. My mail box, when the water come up, it fully uprooted it and it was down the road. I finally picked it up."
McLean County saw up to 15 inches of rain over a five-day period in early April in a storm system that resulted in seven fatalities statewide. That was on top of massive flooding in February. Federal disaster declarations were declared for both events.
So far, 2025 is the wettest year on record for the Bluegrass State, which normally receives around 50 inches of rain annually. The first four months of this year saw a statewide average of more than 26 inches of rain. Meteorologist Shane Holinde with the Kentucky Climate Center says five of the top ten wettest years in state history have occurred since 2011.
"We are more susceptible now than ever before, particularly in the low-lying areas, when it comes to flooding," Holinde said.
April was considered a generational flood event. But Bridgette Morris has lived next to the Green River since childhood and has observed that major flood events are becoming more common.
"It hasn't come up this high since 1957, but it has come up high before in 1997 and in 2011," Morris recalled. "But it's been up twice this year, a month apart."
At her home, the water got up to the windows and caused her front porch to buckle. Most of her contents inside were saved, but the home's foundation is destroyed.
"If we were financially able to get it rebuilt and sturdy, it's just gonna come around and do it again," said Morris.
Morris is planning to sell the property, understanding the home she grew up in and where she raised her own children will be torn down.
"The person is gonna buy it for the land," she said. "That's all they're gonna buy it for."
Until Morris gets some FEMA assistance, she, her husband, and adult son are staying in a home they know is structurally unsound. Eventually, they plan to move into a rental unit in neighboring Daviess County.
As of May 12, FEMA had approved more than $9.1 million in housing and other types of assistance to more than 1,100 Kentucky households. Those residents are in the 13 counties by FEMA first approved for Individual Assistance stemming from the April floods. McLean County wasn't on the list originally, but was added this week along with 23 other counties. The number of counties approved for Individual Assistance is currently 37.
A federal disaster declaration makes households eligible for FEMA assistance, but it's no guarantee and funds are limited. Other types of government aid, including from the SBA, involve loans that must be paid back with interest.
Flood insurance claims are paid even without a presidential declaration. But, fewer than 1% of Kentuckians have flood insurance.
"Between 60-70% of Americans think their homeowners policy covers the risk of flooding when it doesn't," said Trevor Burgess, CEO of Neptune Flood, a private insurance firm that has researched flood-prone areas.
"What we're finding as climate change advances, this idea of being in a flood zone or not a flood zone needs to go out the window," Burgess told WKU Public Radio. "Everybody needs to buy flood insurance."
According to government data, a quarter of flood insurance claims come from medium or low-risk flood areas.
When heavy rainfall happens, the damage from even an inch of water in a home can cost around $20,000. Some Kentuckians got several feet of water in their homes during the April storms.
Rural Kentucky residents like Bridgette Morris say the cost of premiums is out of reach.
"A thousand dollars a year—I can't afford that. Not and us survive," Morris said. "I'm on disability. My insurance would take my whole pay."
People living in a FEMA-designated high-risk flood zone and who have a federally-backed mortgage are required to buy flood insurance. The requirement is sometimes flouted because of the cost.
A study from Neptune Flood found 95% of Eastern Kentucky homes damaged by the high waters caused by storms in 2022 lacked flood insurance.
Policies through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA, fell by 17% between 2021-2024 due to price increases. After the 2022 storms, flood insurance premiums doubled in some Kentucky counties.
Currently, only 17,754 Kentuckians have policies through the National Flood Insurance Program. Since the April storms, 1,052 claims have been filed, and NFIP has paid out more than $13.3 million to those policyholders.
For those who can afford flood insurance, the payout is worth the cost compared to FEMA grants alone.
"Flood insurance is an option that will give you a lot more money," said Erendira Strittar, Public Affairs Specialist for FEMA Region 5. "For example, the maximum coverage we'll give you for a disaster is $47,951. With flood insurance, you can get up to $250,000 for the dwelling and up to $100,000 for the contents inside the house."
Bridgette Morris, who didn't take on flood insurance because of the cost, is now left with difficult decisions.
"Lot of us have lived here in Rumsey all of our life and we all have to leave it," Morris said. "We're just getting too old to battle it anymore."
Uninsured and not knowing what, if any, FEMA aid her family will receive, Morris is planning to leave the only home she's ever known.
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