A grant initiative spearheaded by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) is helping Pike County recover from last summer’s massively destructive flash flooding.

About 26 people are already working on cleanup crews, at road departments, at solid waste stations, and as outreach workers to help flood victims access needed aid. At least three more are working as outreach workers. Their wages are paid by the grant.

The flash floods that hit Pike County July 17 were the most sudden and destructive there in living memory. The Harless and Raccoon Creek areas were hardest hit. Hundreds of homes were damaged or washed away and roads were completely washed out, leaving people stranded with no electricity and no safe drinking water.

Just as impressive as the destruction, however, was the rush of volunteers and agencies that swooped in to help. Local churches, private citizens, state police, National Guard units and government agencies encamped in Pike County and began distributing water, food, and other aid needed by the victims of the disaster.

EKCEP also moved quickly to help. It partnered with other Workforce Investment Areas, county governments, and the state Office of Employment and Training to put together a $938,000 disaster grant request to provide temporary employment for workers to help recovery efforts in Pike and in Carter, Elliott and Lewis Counties, which also suffered major flood damage around the same time.

Everyone involved understood the need to get timely help for these counties and made the process as flexible, quick, and easy as possible, according to Crawford Blakeman, EKCEP’s business solutions director.

“It’s a great example of very effective partnerships working all around,” Blakeman said.

Blakeman said the employment program is designed to address critical issues related to the flood. Flood victims who lost their jobs because of the flood were given priority for the temporary jobs, which include cleaning up flood damage and debris, repairing damaged roads, and working as outreach workers to help flood victims access services and aid they need to recover from this flood.

Pike County Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said the extra workers were a great asset to the county, and said he was glad EKCEP and its partner Big Sandy Area Community Action Program (BSACAP) worked so quickly to fund and launch the employment program.

“This is a great program, a timely program. We appreciate it,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford said the grant program will “pay dividends” for the flood areas by putting people to work that need to work, taking some of the burden for cleanup off the county, and freeing county resources for needs like future flood mitigation measures.

The temporary job was a big boon to Matthew Bevins, who has been working on a cleanup crew clearing displaced trailers and other flood debris in the county.

Matthew remembers how terrifying the flood was. He had to grab his grandmother from her home and carry her uphill to safety.

The flood just missed damaging his home on Raccoon Creek, but it damaged his property and destroyed the road, leaving Matthew and his extended family stranded for two weeks.

“We were all very scared because the water just kept coming. It happened so fast and went away so fast,” he said.

Faced with the decision to try to make his way out and go to work at his coal-mining job or stay with and take care of his stranded family, it was easy for Matthew to choose his family. But that decision cost him his job.

Matthew said he is glad a friend told him about the temporary work program funded by the grant.

“I have a job now. That helps out greatly,” he said, smiling.

Melissa Williams, an EKCEP workforce recovery assistant, was on hand to monitor Matthew and the other workers as they cleaned the final debris from a trailer relocated by the flood. They were doing a “wonderful job,” she said, adding that the employment program is a good example of offering people not a handout, but a hand up and a road to recovery.

“We’re pleased to help them help themselves,” Melissa said.

For more information about EKCEP and its initiatives, visit EKCEP on the Web at www.ekcep.org or www.facebook.com/ekcep.