Historic floodwaters force families from homes

Published 6:00 am Saturday, April 12, 2025

By David Horowitz

DAVID MAMARIL HOROWITZ

david.horowitz@bgdailynews.com

Floodwater uprooted Zulma Lopez’s carpet. The floors floated in the living room. The water accumulated four inches high – forcing Lopez and her family from their home of eight years for the foreseeable future.

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Their home, located next to a stormwater basin that overflowed in the Brentwood Place neighborhood, is among numerous households regionwide that sustained structural damage from the recent historic floodwaters. The four-day weather event, which began last Thursday, dropped 10.1 inches of rain in Warren County, according to the Kentucky Mesonet.

The City of Bowling Green as of late Thursday afternoon counted damage to 196 structures citywide after assessing the city’s 10 zones across nearly 1.5 million square feet, according to Brad Schargorodski, manager of the Bowling Green Code Compliance and Animal Protection Division. (A structure refers to one building, be it a house, shack or 10-unit apartment, he explained.) The city marked 17 dwelling units either as evacuated or having 100% substantial flooding.

The “very low-end, conservative” structural damage estimate – which excludes belongings – was $5.1 million to residential structures and $1.3 million to commercial ones, Schargorodski said. These assessments are critical: Insurance policies don’t typically offer flood insurance, leaving residents far more reliant on emergency funding that would be supplied by FEMA.

However, their eligibility to apply for FEMA funding is contingent on the area damage meeting a certain dollar threshold, followed by the governor – and then the president – declaring a disaster, according to City of Bowling Green Public Information Officer Debi West.

Those with insurance should file a claim first, FEMA told the Daily News; if the disaster declaration is approved, FEMA can support uninsured and underinsured disaster survivors with repairing or replacing damaged property not covered by insurance, according to the agency. It’s unable to provide a timeline on when a request for emergency federal assistance would be made by or when one may be approved, FEMA told the Daily News.

Lopez, a single mother of two who works at Bowling Green Metalforming, scheduled an assessment after reading that repairs could cost anywhere from $2,000 to $60,000.

“Right now, I have no funds, so I’m lost,” said Lopez, who’s paying the mortgage on her home. “If I don’t have FEMA, how am I going to pay the people who are going to fix my house? I’m not even sure how to even start right now.”

Lopez is one of three residents forced out of the homes by the floods to share their accounts with the Daily News. Each described uncertainty as they wait to learn about the future of their homes, and as they seek shelter with their loved ones.

Lopez recalled Saturday afternoon: She, her two children and the younger’s grandmother left for their family gathering Saturday afternoon as water filled her home’s crawl space, hopeful the stormwater wouldn’t reach the interior.

She later returned to water rising in her room, the walk-in closet, the bathroom, the guest bathroom, and kitchen. When Lopez checked the garage, water floated their possessions into the rest of the house, she said.

For her, damage to the house represents more than a structural or financial blow. It’s sowed uncertainty into a home intended as a legacy for her family.

“I always think of families who have a home for generations and generations, just passing it on, it stays in the family, like land or whatever – and that’s kind of what this was,” Lopez said. “It was something that was going to represent my family. Something that I could pass on to my kids, that they could live in when they’re older with their families. Or a place where they could come home whenever they need it.

Seeing the home like that is …” Her voice caught. “ … it’s sad.”

Lopez and the three with her stayed with family before acquiring an Airbnb for 10 days through the help line 211.

Several miles east, a flood zone overflowed into homes throughout the Cave Mill-Hunting Creek neighborhood.

The Oliver family, on Cave Mill Road, saw water surround their home as Sunday wore on, resident Dale Oliver said. At night, they watched the water rise inside their air vents, hoping – praying – that it would stop.

By around 3 a.m., floodwater rose through the floors, prompting Oliver and his wife to evacuate their two children and their animals.

They returned in the morning to salvage what they could in water more than a foot deep through the home and 3.5 feet high in the garage. Items with sentimental value were the focus, Oliver said – anything buyable could, in time, be replaced.

He estimates they lost easily more than $10,000 in possessions alone, including about three-quarters of their belongings. Insurance won’t cover it, he said.

“One day, everything’s normal, everything’s fine, and the next day, you’ve lost everything,” he said.

As of Tuesday, the top concerns were food and shelter – “any normal aspect of your life that you don’t really think about,” he said.

They booked a hotel room for a couple nights.

“It’s (…) a life changing experience – watching everything you worked for your whole life wash away,” he said.

Nearby, the owner of HOG WILD BBQ mobile food trailer, Marshall Beach, watched his home undergo a similar fate.

When water rose by the garage Friday, he moved his concessions truck to a safe location. On Saturday morning, floodwater filled the garage 3 feet high. And on Sunday, it reached 2 feet in the lower part of their house, and 6 to 8 inches in the upper part, prompting his and his wife’s evacuation.

He expects to replace the air conditioning unit and ductwork. Twenty-five thousand dollars in hardwood red flooring may also be damaged.

Hunting Creek is an area reliant on septic tanks, Beach added – meaning that the tanks’ backlogs from the flooding had contaminated the area floodwater.

Still, he said, material things can be replaced.

“We’re just grateful we’re safe.”

Lopez is accepting donations at https://www.gofundme.com/f/mother-of-two-needs-storm-relief

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