Mud, Rain, Debris, Hamper Search for Kentucky Flood Victims

Kevin Johnson last saw his son Scott wading through the rushing water with his 74-year-old grandmother on his back.
Scott Johnson had already saved his father, his uncle and sister as a flash flood ravaged the rural town of Flat Gap. He returned to their cluster of trailers for his grandmother and teenage nephew and started to carry them to higher ground. As the flood raged out of control, he wedged his nephew safely into a high tree before the water washed Johnson and the grandmother away.
The grandmother, Willa Mae Pennington, was found dead Tuesday among debris from the family's shattered mobile homes, Johnson County Coroner J.R. Frisby confirmed. Scott Johnson, 34, is one of six people still unaccounted for after the raging Monday afternoon flood.
Rescue crews combing the hilly Appalachian terrain Tuesday were hampered by more heavy rains, swarming mosquitoes, soupy humidity and knee-deep mud.
Authorities called off the search around 8 p.m. Tuesday, with plans to resume Wednesday morning.