Two of Kentucky’s public universities have joined together to launch a new initiative to help advance the state’s disaster preparedness and recovery capabilities: the University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University.
The UK Cooperative Extension Service at the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFÉ), along with KSU, are developing strike teams to better respond and reduce the impact of disasters through research-based education.
Kentuckians have experienced three weather-related events in 2025 that led to Presidential major disaster declarations, which caused significant damage to infrastructure and communities across the state, but the trend began well before this year.
“Kentucky has experienced an increase in ‘billion dollar’ weather disasters — a total of 92 impacting the area since 1980, with seven of those devastating events occurring in 2024 alone,” said University of Kentucky senior meteorologist Matt Dixon.
Ayla Watts, a former UK Extension agent in Breathitt County, remembers watching the North Fork Kentucky River in Jackson, Kentucky, in 2022 continue to rise as the flooding began to make its way into town.
“It looked like a wall of water — it was scary because we didn’t know how high it would get, and parts of town were evacuated due to the rising river water,” said Watts, now a UK Area Extension director. “Many folks said that they didn’t have time to get their possessions. Everything was just gone. We just weren’t prepared for something like this.”
Along with ongoing damage caused by recent storms this year in Kentucky, this sparked Watts and other extension leaders to begin assessing local and statewide needs to determine what communities and individuals needed to better prepare, respond and recover.
The specialized strike teams, composed of trained county agents and staff in Kentucky, will provide crucial on-the-ground support to communities impacted by disasters.
Watts, who helped write the grant proposal awarded by the Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) and is one of the approximately 40 strike team members in Kentucky, believes that organization is key.
“Many people want to help, but it must be streamlined,” Watts said. “These strike teams are a ready-made, trained group who are ready to help and provide relief. As a strike team member, you are working in coordination with your county’s emergency plan. In our trainings, we are now stressing the importance of preparedness, support and recovery.”
(Photo of recent flooding courtesy of Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment)
By Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
