Numerous roads including some major arteries were closed in Lincoln County

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) -Heavy rains caused a lot of roads to close across the area.

That happened in Lincoln County when the Dix River jumped its banks and rolled across US 27 between Lancaster and Stanford.

The Transportation Cabinet closed US 27 north of Stanford near Freedom Baptist Church, but that didn’t stop a handful of drivers to ignore the signs and drive through the high waters anyway.

“But I think the biggest concern I have is safety. If you come across flooded roads, turn around-- don’t try to go through it,” said Ashley Powell with Lincoln County Emergency Management.

Many others did turn around, but some attempted it only to finally back up and go the other way.

Lincoln County officials say in other parts of the county, many learned the hard way what can happen by attempting to drive through a flooded road.

“We actually had three water rescues here in Lincoln County, in this storm,” said Powell.

Keith Kirkpatrick is a trustee at Freedom Baptist and says he’s seen the Dix River flood several times before, and it has even flooded the church.

“I just hope it doesn’t get back up. It’s material things but still a lot of work, a lot of destruction,” he said.

Water also closed a big section of Ky. 39 north of Crab Orchard and numerous smaller roads out in the county.

“It just takes a few inches of water running at a fast speed to wash your car off into the major water.”

US 27 reopened to traffic just before 4 p.m. Friday. Officials say many of the rescues happened because people could not see the roadways when it was dark. They encourage people not to drive at night in areas during flood warnings because of what can happen.

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