East Kentucky Floods 2022 Part 2: The Things We Carried

In the days that followed the July 2022 floods in Eastern Kentucky, survival meant more than making it through the storm. Roads were gone, power was out, and families searched for food, medicine, and a way to care for one another.

“The Things We Carried” is the second video in Worthy Ground, a storytelling project from Invest Appalachia sharing how Central Appalachian communities faced disaster and found resilience together.

This chapter looks at the days after the storm — when neighbors became lifelines, local leaders scrambled to organize help, and small acts of kindness kept hope alive. From city workers coordinating aid to business owners opening their homes, this is the story of what we carried when everything else was lost.

If you would like to support the recovery of Busy B’s (featured in this story) please consider making a donation on their gofundme page here.