EXTRA CONTENT: Corbin Mayor declares city in state of emergency

See the letter from the mayor and declaration of emergency by clicking here.

Following heavy rains and flash flooding over the weekend and early this week, Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney officially declared the city in a "state of emergency" Wednesday afternoon and is asking for help from state officials regarding clean up efforts.

In a letter to Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, McBurney notes that the city "experienced flash flooding due to torrential rainfall in our area on May 3, 2009, causing considerable human suffering and widespread damages to public and private property and vital public facilities."

McBurney goes on to say the city used equipment and expended time and personnel effort to deal with the flooding and that it now finds "that the situation is beyond the capability of our City for adequate response."

Local officials are currently working on a damage assessment to send with the request for aid. City Manager Bill Ed Cannon said the assessment will include mostley overtime hours paid to Public Works laborers and police officers to manage public safety during the flooding. He also noted that the city had to repair a portion of road at the intersection of Fourth and Fifth Streets that was totally washed out by the flooding.

"Underneath the concrete there it was completely wiped out," Cannon said. "There wasn’t anything to hold the road up. Our workers had to go in and put stone back so they could get the road back open."

The area was closed for a period of time Monday. Cannon said the fix is temporary.

Officials also noted that a mudslide behind the Corbin Center for Technology and Community Activities was likely to be on the damage assessment. Workers were at the site today placing sandbags between a cliff and the back wall of the facility to ensure it is not damaged by falling earth or rock.

McBurney said if the request for assistance is approved, then the state would pick up a large portion of the tab for costs related to the flooding. The rest would be split between the city and federal government.

"I think there a several other counties in our area that are going to file for it as well," McBurney said. "If you don’t ask you will never get it so we wanted to make sure we made the request."