AUGUSTA, Ky. -- Firefighters, officials and neighbors resumed searching at daybreak Monday for a missing Bracken County man whose home was swept away by floodwaters early Sunday morning, Search Captain Ron Nadicksbernd said.
A cadaver dog assisted about a dozen Augusta firefighters in the search for 82-year-old Delmar Nickoson, Nickoson’s home near Bracken Creek apparently was swept away in the floodwaters.
Areas of Bracken and Mason Counties like Maysville and Augusta were rocked by storms and heavy rain early Sunday. Floodwater destroyed several homes and businesses in the area.
MORE: Maysville business 'complete disaster' after storms
Nadicksbernd said crews searched through over two miles of debris.
“It’s very hazardous where we’re searching. It’s a very slow process,” Nadicksbernd said. “We have a lot of debris piles. It’s going to take time to go through everything.”
Pretty evident how high the water was on the banks of Bracken Creek. We're on our way to press conference for search update. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/K7EqW2YuBl
— Jake Ryle (@JakeWCPO) July 23, 2017
Kentucky Fish and Wildlife searched by boat in Bracken Creek, and Georgetown's Air Evac Lifeteam searched the area from a helicopter until dark on Sunday to no avail.
PHOTOS: Northern Kentucky hit with overnight flooding
Neighbors on ATVs also assisted with the search efforts.
“We had people living around that was helping out. What we did was divided the people that aren’t professionals, we put them with our search teams," Nadicksbernd said.
At a Sunday evening news conference, Nadicksbernd said crews would continue searching Monday morning.
Watch the full news conference in the player below.
Nadicksbernd said two of the people searching had to be treated for heat exhaustion.
Crews paused the search at dark and resumed at 6 a.m. Monday with several dogs searching for the man. Nadicksbernd said it is too early to call the search efforts a recovery. He, along with many in the tight-knit community, had hoped to find Nickoson before the sun set on Sunday.
“It’s hard. It’s extremely hard for the family. It’s hard on all of our searchers, too. It hits us like family. It’s hard for everyone,” he said.
