North Fort Myers man volunteers in Kentucky, helps rebuild after floods

People in parts of eastern Kentucky have gone for weeks without power, shelter, or fresh food and water after catastrophic flooding hit the area in July. One Red Cross volunteer from North Fort Myers looking for a way to give back stepped up to help.

Byron Ek, a liver transplant recipient, says 11 blood transfusions from Red Cross blood donations helped save his life, so he wanted to repay that kindness. As soon as he got trained as a volunteer, deadly flooding hit eastern Kentucky. The floodwaters are gone now, but Ek says it is still a mess.

“Now, when a Red Cross emergency response vehicle shows up, within five minutes there’s people coming out of the woods in four-wheelers and Jeeps and dirt bikes and cars, and they’re loading up and saying, ‘Hey, I got 10 kids, you know, we haven’t eaten in 10 days,'” Ek said. “And we’ll give them 10 hot meals and water.”

He sent WINK News videos and images of the aftermath as seen in Blackey, Kentucky, a tiny little town (census: 109, as of 2020) right on the Kentucky River. Ek helps hand out 200 hot meals twice a day, and he says they’re gone within 15 minutes. He was told the town won’t have water for another six months until the infrastructure is fixed.

“It’s hard to process, but you just keep on driving by and it’s even worse on the next corner,” Ek said. “Houses crushed together and houses upside down. It’s just, you know, you’re not quite sure what to think. It’s just so overwhelming that you don’t know what to think.”

Ek just extended his deployment in Kentucky after he saw how bad things were, but he says he will be ready to help his neighbors in Southwest Florida as we head into the peak of hurricane season.