Officials predict historic floods in Ky.; Search continues for missing kayakers as waters rise

Coast Guard: Historic flooding expected in Ky.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Coast Guard is warning that some rural parts of Kentucky are about to be inundated by the worst flooding in 200 years.

Coast Guard Lt. Jennifer Jessee, chief of waterways management with the marine safety unit in Paducah, said rising waters would reach their highest levels by the weekend.

Seventy-three counties in Kentucky have declared states of emergency due to the flooding, and teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency arrived Thursday to begin assessing the damage.

Jessee said the Coast Guard has banned recreational boating on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers as well as Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley due to hazardous conditions.

Meanwhile, officials continue to search swift-moving, debris-filled rivers for two missing kayakers.