Small Kentucky Town Showing Small Signs of Recovery from Floods

A delivery driver stopped for lunch. A child rode his bicycle with his mother in tow. The sounds of mandolins and banjos playing bluegrass music wafted through the air.

All three are probably common scenes in countless Kentucky small towns, but in downtown Olive Hill, they are signs of something more significant.

A recovery.

It has been 10 months and 11 days since Tygart Creek ran over its banks and devastated Olive Hill’s main business district the first of two times (the other was in July), and city leaders, business owners and residents hope to see a nascent revival.

Dentist Kevin Jordan saw his office at 154 Scott St. washed away in May. He said enough of his patients came back to keep him filling cavities, but he understands why many business owners left for good.

“You have to be optimistic,” Jordan said. “Realistically, it would be difficult for people to take the risk of losing everything.”

Jennifer King is so optimistic she signed a lease last week and plans to open Off the Rack, a clothing consignment shop, next month, in the 100 block of Railroad Street. She grew up watching her grandfather, Kay Garvin, run Kay’s Used Furniture on Ky. 1025, and she decided to open her business “just to help” her town.

“I just wanted to try something new,” said King, a lifelong Olive Hill resident. “You just have to have a good attitude about things. It’s a wonderful spot, a good neighborhood.”

As Louie Keaton, who runs the Hair Quarters barber shop behind James Hardware on Scott Street, wielded scissors on a customer’s head, he offered a radical and likely improbable solution.

“(Downtown) needs a lot of help. My personal opinion, the town needs to be moved to higher ground so we can grow,” he said. “Is that practical? Probably not.”

Jordan, King, Keaton and others nevertheless share painful memories of the floods of May 2 and 3 and July 21. During the latter, a Fultz area woman, 72-year-old Mary Littleton, drowned after her mobile home was swept away.

Alma Sturgill owns Sturgill’s Music Center on Scott Street across from Jordan’s office. She remembers the “yellow mud” that came in the back door of her former location across the street.

“It was like a river, shoving everything up front,” Sturgill said. “It was yellow, slick mud. You couldn’t stand up. You had no choice but to throw everything out.

On Tuesday, Sturgill piped Rhonda Vincent, Ralph Stanley and other stars from her store. She thanked countless bluegrass musicians and fans who helped her continue doing what she likes — selling guitars, strings and mandolins.

“I didn’t have anything else to do,” Sturgill said. “It was hard.”

Tony James owns James Hardware. He commemorates the flood with the red line on a post next to the cash register — a 39-inch stripe to illustrate how high the May floodwaters reached.

“We moved as much as we could,” James said. “Everything we moved was in vain.”

While it’s impossible to tell what the future holds, there are small signs of renewal, and people whose livelihood revolves around downtown Olive Hill try to stay positive. A few doors from King’s shop, a sign announced the planned April 1 opening of the Angel Tree Thrift Shop.

Nicola Raybourn and her father, J.C. Raybourn, own the building King is leasing. Nicola returned from San Diego to Carter County in 2009, a decision she hasn’t regretted — even though she and her dad have spent at least $25,000 renovating what they have, with more expenses coming.

“What am I going to do, leave my dad high and dry?” Nicola Raybourn asked. “My family (needed) me.”

To be sure, there is much more work to do. Three buildings in the same block as the Raybourns’ stand condemned; the former Gene’s Electrical Supply store on Scott Street is closed; an eye clinic, beauty salon and video store are among the businesses that won’t be returning.

Debbie Baker Harman, president of the Olive Hill Council for Preservation and Restoration, said her group is trying to get nonprofit status so the city can apply for and receive government and private funding.

Baker Harman also said the council is meeting Friday with representatives from the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises of Berea.

Angie Johnson, meanwhile, proclaims her faith in God and community where people can’t miss it. She hung a 30-foot banner with the words “Braved the storms, stood the floods, will stand because it’s built on the Rock! Oh yeah (the house, too).”

“I had a huge storage building,” Johnson said. “They found it by the sewer plant, about a half mile away.”

Johnson cleaned up her house after the May storm — and had to do it again in July. She eventually raised the home some 10 feet off the ground with a cinder-block wall.

“There are solutions if we hang together and let God be a rock,” she said.