The governor of Kentucky announced on Friday that at least 15 people have died and several others are missing after heavy rains caused flooding in eastern Kentucky.
The homes are submerged under flood waters from the Kentucky River.
The number is expected to more than double by the end of the day as heavy rain continues to fall.
The death toll does not include children, according to Beshear.
The state has called in the National Guard to help with the search and rescue.
Hundreds of people were saved by boat and helicopter, according to Beshear.
Mudslides, destroyed bridges, swept away vehicles, submerged homes, and destroyed power lines have been caused by the flooding.
According to the tracker Power Outage.us, almost 24,000 homes in the state were without power on Friday.
The threat of flash flooding remains despite the fact that flood water levels in several areas have retreated from their Thursday peak. There is a chance of flash flooding in parts of Virginia and West Virginia.
In an interview with CNN, Beshear said, "There's going to be multiple families that we've lost...This is so deadly, and it hit so hard, and it hit in the middle of the night." Beshear said the floods were one of the worst he had ever seen.
Less than a year ago, multiple tornadoes struck Kentucky, killing at least 77 people. Heavy rain caused flash floods in the city of St. Louis earlier this week. Local officials in northern Arizona declared a state of emergency after seeing similar floods. Climate change could cause these extreme weather events to become more frequent, according to scientists.
The latest bout of extreme U.S. weather includes flash floods.
There are record highs in over two dozen US cities.
The toll from the floods is expected to rise.
The death toll from Kentucky's flooding is expected to increase.
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