BUTLER, Ky — Pendleton County emergency officials allowed residents to return to their Butler homes for the first time since they issued an evacuation order to protect people threatened by historic flood levels along the Licking River.
Officials said 66-year-old Robert Singleton died as a result of the flooding in that area.
Connie Webster heeded the order and fled to a nearby hotel with her elderly mother.
"I was afraid I wasn't going to get her out if I had kept her here because she doesn't walk very well," she said.
Webster said her basement flooded and her utilities hadn't come back on, so it wasn't clear whether she'd be able to get her mom and return home Monday evening.
WATCH: Body of man recovered in flood waters as Butler residents return home
She said her main fear was that the home she'd worked so hard on renovating over the last few years would be unlivable when the flood waters receded, but that hadn't happened.
"To think that all that hard work was about to be gone, or could be gone, and, on the second hand, if it didn't flood, were people going to go in and start stealing our stuff? That was another concern," she said.
Webster called on everyone in the region to rely on one another as rebuilding begins.
Pendleton Emergency Management Director Rob Braun said a donation center opened Monday at 512 Maple Avenue in Falmouth.
Volunteers with the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program watched over a slowly growing mound of nonperishable foods, water bottles and cleaning supplies.
Outreach Coordinator Lisa Wiggins promised to keep the facility open as long as necessary.
"It's a community," Wiggins said. "We're all family here. We have to reach out. We have to help each other. Without that, we won't make it through this."
The donation shelter would accept nonperishable food, water, portable water pumps and cleaning supplies from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday. The EMA said clothing items would not be accepted.
