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Well past midnight on July 28, 2022, 12-year-old Kaleigh Baker tiptoed into her mom’s room and rustled her awake. \u201cMommy, the house shook,\u201d Kaleigh said.<\/p>\n
Linda Baker, still groggy, heard only the air conditioner\u2019s whirr. She told Kaleigh it was probably just thunder. Kaleigh crept back upstairs. Minutes later, Linda heard a deluge of water. From the back door, she saw rain pounding down on a wall of mud almost 8 feet tall that had slammed against their home\u2019s vinyl siding. Linda recognized the disaster: another landslide.<\/p>\n
Linda raced to round up Kaleigh, 16-year-old son Ian, and the dogs. By 2:30 a.m., they\u2019d thrown essentials into bags and fled toward Hazard, the county seat roughly 10 miles away. But the North Fork of the Kentucky River had flooded the road like a burst pipe. Water swept over the hood of the car and pushed the vehicle toward the river raging below.<\/p>\n
Linda floored her car in reverse and, once clear, slowly retreated. Before they lost cell service, Kaleigh texted a friend, \u201cI think I\u2019m going to die tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
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