Catholic Charities seeing overflow of flood donations

Aug. 10—From the Dec. 10, 2021, tornadoes that leveled communities across western Kentucky to the July 28 devastating floods that struck eastern Kentucky, the Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Owensboro is doing its part to support both.

For the past week, the Catholic Charities office at 529 Cedar St. has been collecting items that will be delivered next week to the flood-stricken areas.

Katina Hayden and Scott Ingram, case manager directors for Catholic Charities disaster relief, said the flood donation response has been overwhelming.

A trailer has already been filled, and the overflow is being kept inside the garage behind the Catholic Charities office.

Hayden said the biggest requests are for shovels, mops and heavy-duty tarps that are being used to protect goods and equipment from the weather.

"It doesn't have to be brand new," Hayden said.

Physical items will be accepted through Monday at the Catholic Charities office, but financial donations will be ongoing. The local Catholic Charities is working with Catholic Charities USA and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington to distribute the flood donations.

The late-July storms dropped 10.4 inches of rain on parts of the state, causing the deaths of 37 people from the flooding.

Among the communities affected the most were Hazard, Jackson, Paintsville, Prestonsburg, Martin, Pikeville, Hindman, Whitesburg, Fleming-Neon and Jenkins.

Along with coordinating the flood donations, Hayden and Ingram are still working with tornado victims. The tornadoes struck a large area of western Kentucky, which consists of the Owensboro Diocese.

On Tuesday, Hayden and Ingram were in Graves County looking at two properties for Catholic Charities to build homes on.

Additional to that, Hayden said Catholic Charities is partnering with Habitat for Humanity and other organizations to have 10 houses built in Hopkins County by Dec. 10.

"We really need a big win for the area," she said. "And this was something we thought would be a big win."

For both the flooding and tornado disasters, Hayden expects the relief efforts to continue for the foreseeable future.

She said it's slow going to get building materials and to get the skilled labor needed to rebuild the homes and businesses.

"It depends on the county, but the minimum will likely be two years and the maximum five years," said Hayden about the tornado relief. "For the flood, it's probably going to be three or four years because there was such massive devastation."

{span}Don Wilkins, dwilkins@messenger-inquirer.com, 270-691-7299{/span}