The mom of a 9-year-old boy is talking out after he was swept away and killed by floodwaters in Kentucky through the 4 days of historic storms that pounded the area.
Gabriel Andrews was swept away by the floodwaters on Friday morning whereas strolling to his college bus cease in hard-hit Frankfort, based on the Franklin County Coroner’s Workplace.
An undated photograph of 9-year-old Gabriel Andrews who died when he was swept away in floodwaters in Kentucky.
Racheal Andrews
Gabriel, who loved basketball and soccer, “had essentially the most lovely smile” and “liked everybody he got here involved with,” his mom, Racheal Andrews, advised ABC Information.
“I’m overwhelmed with the love that the group had for my son,” she added.
The 4 days of lethal storms started on Wednesday, devastating the central U.S. with catastrophic flooding and damaging tornadoes. Twenty-three folks have died, with the fatalities spanning Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi and Indiana.
Flooding brought on by heave rains throughout the Midwest in Frankfort, Kentucky, Apr. 7, 2025.
Leandro Lozada/AFP by way of Getty Photographs
Franklin County, Kentucky, was hit particularly laborious by the life-threatening rain, and Racheal Andrews mentioned she is “devastated” that in-person college wasn’t canceled on Friday.
“There by no means ought to have been college that day,” she mentioned.
A drone view exhibits flooding in Frankfort, Kentucky, April 7, 2025.
Frankfort Police Division by way of Reuters
The Franklin County College District is on spring break this week and superintendent Mark Kopp didn’t instantly reply to ABC Information’ request for touch upon Monday.
However Kopp commented on Gabriel’s dying on Friday, saying in an announcement, “We’re deeply saddened at this horrific tragedy.”
“We’re greater than a college system, we’re a household at Franklin County Faculties, and we share this loss collectively. Right now, we’re working with help workers at our faculties and providing companies to our college students, school, and workers who want help,” Kopp mentioned. “We’re eternally grateful for our group first responders from each metropolis and county companies who selflessly responded to help on this state of affairs.”