Central Valley volunteers step up following catastrophic flooding

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Shirley Bahr from the Fresno chapter of the American Red Cross is one of the volunteers making her way to Kentucky.

"From the freeway, you can see flooding off in the distance in a lot of the lower lining areas," Shirley Bahr said.

The bluegrass state, along with Tennessee, Indiana and Arkansas, have experienced severe weather in the last week.

Officials say this is a historic amount of rain for the region.

Benton, Kentucky, saw upwards of 15 inches of rain while Arkansas and Tennessee experienced over 14 inches of downpour.

As of Sunday, the death toll sits at about 24 people. ABC News reports that one of the deaths includes a 9-year-old Kentucky boy who was swept away by floodwaters when he was walking to his bus stop.

Bahr says since the devastation, the American Red Cross set up about 15 different shelters in the area of Paducah, Kentucky.

"We are people here from Florida, we have someone locally that is from Louisville, Kentucky. We even have a volunteer at our shelter that comes from Saipan, which is a nation near Guam," she said.

Bahr says she'll be in the state for about two weeks, working as a shelter supervisor, making sure people have what they need while they try to grapple with the unimaginable loss of their homes.

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