Heavy rains lead to mudslide on 119

Published 2:39 pm Monday, August 5, 2024

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A large mudslide completely covered all of U.S. Highway 119 Friday afternoon. Crews from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s District 11 responded quickly but it took several hours before both lanes of the highway were completely cleared. (Photos courtesy KYTC)

Torrential rains late Friday afternoon caused flooding and mudslides that closed several Bell County roads. There were also widespread reports of flash flooding as well as downed trees and power lines that had county and state road crews busy along with workers from KU and AT&T responding to outages.

A large mudslide covered all of U.S. Highway 119 in the Blackmont area between mile points 13 and 14 and took crews from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet several hours to clear. One lane was opened within about two hours and it was after midnight before both lanes were completely cleared.

Bell County Emergency Management also shared reports of roads closed due to flooding on Highway 66, Highway 2012 and Balkan Road as well as Highway 987 in Brownies Creek being down to one lane.

Fortunately no injuries were reported due to the flooding.

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