Couple Lose All Four Children in Devastating Kentucky Floods | They Were Swept Away From Parents’ Grip

In an unimaginable tragedy, one couple lost all their young children in the deadly Kentucky floods. The victims were Maddison Noble, 8, Riley Jr., 6, Nevaeh Noble, 4, and Chance Noble, 2. Parents Amber Smith and Riley Noble had only minutes to escape with their children when their mobile home began flooding. Sadly, the children lost their parents' grip and their bodies were found hours later in Knott County, the Lexington Herald Reader reported.

According to a family relative, Smith's cousin Brittany Trejo, the parents "got on the roof and the entire underneath washed out with them and the children. They managed to get to a tree and ... held the children a few hours before a big tide came and wash them all away at the same time,” Trejo said. “The mother and father were stranded in the tree for 8 hours before anyone got there to help,” added Trejo.

Trejo also told the New York Times, “The rage of the water took their children out of their hands.” The kids' uncle, Steven Smith, pointed out that Riley and Chance who always played together were found closest to each other. “I know they hung on to each other till the very end," Smith said. A GoFundMe was set up for the grieving parents to help with the funeral costs and has so far raised $66,176.

According to CNN, at least 28 people died in last week's flooding in Kentucky as rescuers continue to work through the calamity. "Our confirmed count of Kentuckians we've lost has now reached 28, and we expect that there will be more, and that that number will grow," Gov. Andy Beshear said on Sunday. "This is one of the most devastating deadly floods that we have seen in our history," Beshear said on NBC's Meet The Press, per the outlet. "It wiped out areas where people didn't have that much to begin with. We're going to be finding bodies for weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter-mile plus from where they were last," the governor said.

Many have attributed the floods as a result of climate change. A spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave Newsweek access to the National Climate Assessment's Fourth report, which said, "Throughout the southeastern United States, the impacts of sea level rise, increasing temperatures, extreme heat events, heavy precipitation, and decreased water availability continue to have numerous consequences for human health, the built environment, and the natural world. The number of extreme rainfall events is increasing. For example, the number of days with 3 or more inches of precipitation has been historically high over the past 25 years, with the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s ranking as the decades with the 1st, 3rd and 2nd highest number of events, respectively."

References:

https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article263953661.html

https://www.newsweek.com/internet-debates-climate-changerole-devastating-kentucky-flooding-1729293

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/29/us/kentucky-flooding-west-virginia?smid=url-share#four-children-dead-kentucky-flood

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/31/weather/kentucky-appalachia-flooding-sunday/index.html

Cover Image Source: GoFundMe