Meg Campos News Today

Mother of Good Counsel Church in Hazard, Kentucky, tolled its bell as Mass ended Aug. 7, while parishioners named a litany of communities deva...

Lori Helfrich, the parish life director at Mother of Good Counsel Church in Hazard County, Kentucky, had just come from volunteering at the food pantry that her parish helps support. They were cutting up melons to distribute to people hit hard by the torrential rain and flooding that has followed in the southeastern region of the state. Northfork Local Foods (the food pantry Hazards parish is part of) has a lot of melon and is distributing it so people have some fresh food, Helfrich said in

The rains in Kentucky began late July 27 and went into the next day, causing massive flooding that destroyed hundreds of homes and wiped out entire communities, according to news reports. Search and rescue teams, with the help of the National Guard, began searching for missing people July 29. More rain and storms were expected over the July 30-31 weekend.