'It was God, I tell you:' Tiny light on cellphone leads to one water rescue as Kentucky endures historic flooding

Firefighter Eddie Stacy was turning his fire truck around in the dark while responding to storm damage when he noticed a tiny light coming from the flooded Red River.

It was a cellphone a woman was waving from a car inundated with water that was rising by the minute.

Stacy and other members of the Hazel Green Fire Department in southeastern Kentucky sprang into action Sunday night, pulling five people from the car where water was up to the dashboard. Among those rescued were a 17-month-old boy and a woman who appeared to be having a seizure, Stacy said in a telephone interview Monday.

“We don’t do too much training on this water rescue,” Stacy said. “Instinct, it just kicks in.”

Heavy rains pounded Kentucky on Sunday and Monday, sending rivers out of their banks and leading to multiple water rescues, mudslides and road closures, officials said.

Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency Monday due to heavy rainfall across the state.

“We are acting swiftly to ensure the safety and security of Kentucky families and to get the needed help to our communities,” he said in a statement. He said 13 counties and cities had declared states of emergency and the Kentucky National Guard was activated and assisting in high water emergencies.

Michael Dossett, the state director of emergency management, said during the governor's Monday afternoon coronavirus briefing that "the declarations are still coming in. We expect this to be one of the largest flash-flooding events that we've had."

Louisville received a record rainfall for Sunday's date — 3.5 inches — and Bowling Green had its sixth-wettest day on record with 5.11 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

Eleven Kentucky counties have declared emergencies.

In Louisville, minor flooding was expected later in the week. The upper gauge of the McAlpine Lock and Dam on the Ohio River was at a little more than 19 feet about 4 p.m. It will reach flood stage — when flooding begins to impact on surrounding areas — at 23 feet, which could happen Tuesday, said Ryan Sharpe, a meteorologist with the weather service.

WATCH: Flooding across Kentucky leads to evacuations, rescues and road closures across the state

In Lee County, about 145 miles from Louisville, some homes in Beattyville were evacuated Monday. County Judge-Executive Chuck Caudill told WYMT-TV that rescue crews used county dump trucks to help people escape their homes.

Jon Allen, emergency management director for Lee County, said there have been "several rescues" in Beattyville due the flooding.

"This is devastating to our small town, there’s no question about that. A lot of good people have their life investment in these businesses," he said. "We’re gonna rebuild. We’ll do that, and we’re expecting FEMA will declare a disaster, so we’ll work through all of that part of it. We’ll come back stronger. It’s just gonna take us a little time."

Dossett said Monday afternoon that first responders had been "literally saving lives for the last 48, 72 hours."

Stacy was part of a storm-response unit cutting down a tree that had fallen onto a road in Wolfe County, about 75 miles southeast of Lexington. But a mudslide started and Stacy was forced to move his firetruck.

As he was turning around, Stacy noticed something in the floodwaters just down the road — a woman sitting on a stalled car’s door window, waving her cellphone flashlight and yelling for help.

“Nobody could hear from where she was,” Stacy said. “That little flashlight when I was driving down the road just caught my attention. It was God, I tell you. It was God to have me in that place where I was supposed to be.”

Stacy attached a 100-foot rope to the truck and himself and helped retrieve the car’s occupants. Wolfe County Sheriff Chris Carson used a front-end loader to lift out the woman who had the seizure. The car’s occupants were brought to the nearby fire station to be checked out by emergency technicians. The woman with the seizure eventually recovered, Stacy said.

Contributing: Ayana Archie and Alton Strupp, Courier Journal; The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky flooding: Gov. Andy Beshear declares state of emergency