HENRYVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- The deadly floods in eastern Kentucky brought back memories of severe flooding that hit Kentuckiana three decades ago for an Indiana family.
Deborah Kleehammer of Henryville, Indiana, remembers the moment she saw five foot waves rush towards her house from a creek just a couple hundred yards away. It sent her family straight to the second story of their home where they stayed for hours.
The day was August 8, 1992. Southern Indiana and Louisville were both hit with floods.
Parts of Kentuckiana experienced rapid flooding back in August of 1992. Almost 30 years later Eastern Kentucky is battling flood waters that have now taken 37 lives. We spoke with a Henryville woman who recalls the floods and the aftermath three decades later. On WDRB News at 11 pic.twitter.com/iI9Evk1hfC
— Katrina Nickell WDRB (@knickelltv) August 1, 2022
"It was pitiful," Kleehammer said. "I come up the front porch and it was almost up to my chest."Â
The water filled a grocery store, homes, and highways. Kleehammer remembers watching her horses struggle in the high waters.
"I felt bad watching the horses, they just kept swimming and I knew eventually they would get tired and drown but they didn't," Kleehammer said.
The memories of the 1992 flood not only left water damage marks on the Kleehammer home, but a mark on the family's memories too.
Creek in Henryville where flood waters rushed from towards the Kleehammer home.
"It was one of my first memories," Kleehammer's son, Skyler Brooks said. "I remember a fireman being here and he put me on his shoulders, walked out, and like I said it was chest deep and I just remember looking at the water and we walked up to the railroad tracks up here because it was the only spot that was dry."
But the mess and the clean-up isn't all they remember.
"Even after 30 years it chokes me up," Kleehammer said.
It was the extra helping hands and donations that followed.
Kleehammer recalled her Sunday school class coming to her house to rip up carpet and linoleum, Red Cross donating two box springs and mattresses, and her husband's employer donating a new gas tank.
Cars stranded in high waters during flooding of 1992 that hit Kentuckiana.
"It made me feel so blessed to live in a little community that people know you and care," Kleehammer said.
The lasting impression is what Kleehammer hopes for the people of eastern Kentucky, despite the long road ahead.
"It gets better," she said. "Just put your hope and your faith in God and Jesus and just pray and don't quit."
For the people who have lost loved ones or are still searching in eastern Kentucky, Kleehammer encourages to just look ahead.
"Just keep trying and praying," Kleehammer said. "It will get better with some time. It won't seem like it right now but it will get better."
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