During Thursday’s “Team Kentucky” update from Andy Beshear, the governor made known a litany of resources for those affected by the December 10 tornadoes.
At the forefront of his discussion is that state parks providing shelter for those displaced by the storms — or serving the public as first-responders — will have their cost-free stays extended from two weeks to four weeks, pushing comforts and ease-of-mind past New Year’s Day.
As it stands, Beshear said 610 displaced Kentuckians are currently housed in various parks state-wide, as are 176 first-responders.
As of Thursday morning, Kentucky Dam Village has nine rooms available, and is housing 89 storm victims and 155 first-responders.
Twelve rooms remain available at Kenlake State Park, with 144 impacted individuals and eight first-responders being housed.
Lake Barkley State Resort Park has one room available, with 212 people — including what Beshear said was one entire shelter — and 13 first-responders on site.
Pennyrile Forest State Park has one room available, and is lodging 129 people mostly of the Hopkins County area. Beshear noted residents here have had T-Mobile cell phones with unlimited text, talk and internet for a month donated to them, as well as a visit from Santa Claus and volunteers with lunches from Sinking Fork Baptist Church.
Barren River Lake has 40 rooms available and is keeping 21 on its property. John James Audobon has four rooms available with nine being kept. Rough River Dam has 44 rooms available, with four displaced in its care.
The West Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund has raised more than $15.9 million through more than 93,000 donations — and Beshear said the first set of funds will go toward funeral expenses to bury more than 70 Kentuckians who died in the storms. He said families do not have to apply for these grants, and that they’ll instead be contacted by directly by authorities.
Following proper funeral arrangements, Beshear added the relief fund could serve as a major pool of augmenting financial resources for families without home insurance, and FEMA’s individual assistance is capped at $37,900.
Fees are being waived for disaster victims needing lost operator licenses, permits and state ID, and a temporary credential-issuing station is available in Mayfield at 355 Charles Drive. Two more pop-up units are being explored, and will be made open to the public by December 20 and operate through the first week of January.
More than 9,000 Kentuckians have already filed insurance claims, Beshear said, and with the federal disaster declaration, he added that the tax-filing deadline for those eight counties has been extended from April 15 to May 16.
