It’s a terrible situation in Kentucky and is ongoing with more rain coming in. Whatever the reason it’s obvious that weather patterns and climate change are happening at an alarming rate. As we are in this heating cycle of +1.5 C these warm air masses in the SE (fueled by local and warm gulf air) simply hold more moisture than ever. Any middle school kid knows the warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold. These storms and incredible amount of rainfall events all at once are the result.
Tell your loved ones the basics of driving in these events - get off the road when necessary on higher ground if possible. Don’t drive through deep water. Have a device to break your car window out from the inside, realize the pressure of water when your car is sinking or in rising high waters- the doors won’t open until the pressure on the inside of the car and outside are equal - when the water is neck high typically in a car.
If you live in flood prone areas - keep an extra axe in the attic to go straight up to the roof if necessary.
It’s depressing to see how the climate has changed so much since the time I was growing up in the seventies and subsequent decades. This is not how it used to be. It’s feels like a miserable hot humid swamp outside now this time of year in KTown and nearly everywhere else in the southeast in approximate latitudes.
