Following several harrowing days in the flood-ravaged mountains of Eastern Kentucky, Tommy Reed turned to the book of Job for solace.
“Job fell down and worshipped God. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Job did not sin. We take what the Lord gives us. But it sure has been a gut punch,” said Reed, the pastor of Fitzpatrick Baptist Church in Floyd County.
Reed, who has served 22 years at Fitzpatrick and lived in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky his entire life, has become an unofficial point man for many who are requesting help. The church has provided 1,500 meals a day and has organized mudout teams to help residents clean the trail of mud and silt from the river water leftover from the flood that paralyzed the area.
It is the same up and down the Big Sandy River towns. Pike, Floyd, Johnson and Martin are among hardest-hit counties in Kentucky. All 120 counties reported flooding on Sunday (Feb. 16) after three days of rain.
Surviving floods
Surviving floods is too commonplace for the people of Eastern Kentucky. Less than three years ago, flashfloods came sweeping through hollers, causing destruction and leaving many homeless. More than 40 lives were lost.
“Two-and-a-half years ago we had 10.6 inches of rain overnight,” Reed said. “It was a flash food and whoosh! It was gone. People were traumatized. This time we had three days of rain. The ground was so wet and then all that snow and rain on top of snow. The river was up, and the ground was saturated. This was a river flood. The first flood (in 2022) affected the holler people. This flood affected the city people, the downtowns, the retail centers and all that.”
They are both horrific and Reed has seen it on the faces of friends and strangers.
“Another difference between now and then, the people’s spirits are broken,” he said. “There is a sense of despair, a struggle in a different way.”
People are tired and that includes Reed but he soldiers on as did the other people of Eastern Kentucky. They are proud and watch out for each other.
Reed’s compassion shows even as he feels that despair, too. Yet he is leading the charge toward recovery. Every day he has gone on Facebook Live and communicated needs. He is a calming voice in the face of the storm. And here’s something else he has been doing: Tommy Reed has been praying for his family, his church and his Eastern Kentucky friends and neighbors.
“Lots of folks know me,” he said. “This is my 22nd year at this church. People started contacting me. I’ve been on the phone all day. I’ve called other churches, other pastors and asked them how many people in their church needed help. I’ve been directing the mudout teams. It’s a monumental task working with other churches, pastors and ministries.”
Lighthouse
Reed and his wife, Dawn, were spared from water getting into their home this time and the church was spared, too, he said. But he loves his neighbor and when they hurt, so does he.
He mobilized the church to be the lighthouse, serving thousands of meals and providing labor to the many who are feeling hopeless. On Saturday night he and other church members were putting together sandbags in the pitch black as people started preparing for the worst of the flood waters.
“We’ve had generations of resilience,” he said. “The younger people nowadays are experiencing their first river flood. Last one was in 1984 and I experienced one in ’77 that was catastrophic. The ’84 flood was 41 years ago. That’s two generations that have never experienced a river flood.”
Until Saturday, when the water came rushing out of the rivers, soaking anything in its path. It was a volume of water so powerful that nothing was going to stop it, no matter how much advance notice was given. There is no preparing for that kind of force.
Eastern Kentuckians are strong and they will survive this flood, too. They have the kind of leadership in Tommy Reed that can help them get through it. He is a man of God and trusts that God is in control of everything. Even floods.
“As Job said, blessed be the name of the Lord,” Reed said. “His will is perfect. We have to trust that.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mark Maynard and originally published by Kentucky Today.
