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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — After days of deluges overfilled rivers to near-record levels across Kentucky, residents were anxious on Tuesday to return to their flooded homes and assess what would be salvageable, even as stubbornly high waters kept some of them waiting even longer.

Susan Williams returned to her rural Franklin County home near Frankfort with her four dogs and three cats. She left on Sunday while the waters kept rising. Now, her house and a neighbor’s house looked like they were on an island in brown waters.

She and some friends loaded her animals onto a johnboat and paddled back and forth, dropping them off at the house built by her parents.

“It’s my world. It’s my little paradise,” Williams said about her home.

Water was slowly receding in flooded Frankfort, Ky., and officials hoped that by the end of Wednesday, most people would be able to get back into their homes, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference on Tuesday.

Beshear urged patience and caution, pleading with people to wait if they couldn’t get to their homes without driving through water.

“And I know that’s got to be hard if that’s your home and you can’t get into it and you’re displaced, but we want you to be safe,” Beshear said. “Remember, even as much as we love our stuff — and sometimes it’s memories and photographs that are impacted — it’s our lives and the lives of our family and friends that matter.”

Officials warned of flooding expected along the Ohio River in Henderson and Owensboro into next week, with swift water rescue teams at the ready, Beshear added.

Officials in Frankfort diverted traffic, turned off utilities to businesses and instituted a curfew as the Kentucky River crested on Monday just short of a record set in 1978. Water service has been restored but wastewater isn’t back up yet, Beshear said. Floodwaters also forced the closure of the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery, near the banks of the river adjacent to downtown Frankfort.

Inundated rivers are the latest threat from persistent storms that have killed at least 23 people as they doused the region with heavy rain and spawned destructive tornadoes. At least 157 tornadoes struck within seven days beginning March 30, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service.

Flood danger remains high in other states, including parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana.

Cities ordered evacuations, and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.

Cold temperatures chilled the flooded region into Tuesday morning, and a freeze watch Tuesday night into Wednesday morning forecast temperatures in the low 20s in some places, including parts of Kentucky and Indiana.

Storms leaving devastating impact

The 23 deaths reported since the storms began last Wednesday include 10 in Tennessee. Among the four killed in Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus.

A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said, and a 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.

Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Craig Greenberg said Tuesday that no further evacuations were expected along the Ohio River, which is expected to crest on Wednesday at around 37 feet (11.28 meters) before the water begins receding. He said the Louisville Fire Department and others had helped 66 people evacuate a hotel surrounded by water get out safely.

Beshear’s office said more than 800 customers still had no access to water and nearly 4,000 were under boil water advisories.

Why so much nasty weather?

Though significant rains have ended in the Southern Plains and the Mississippi, Tennessee and Ohio valleys, flooding on most rivers will persist this week, with some smaller waterways receding in the next few days, according to the weather service.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

It’s the latest severe weather to cause deaths and widespread damage in Kentucky. Two months ago, at least 24 people died in a round of storms that swelled creeks and covered roads with water. Officials said hundreds had to be rescued, and most of the deaths were caused by vehicles getting stuck in high water.

A storm in late 2021 spawned tornadoes that killed 81 people and leveled portions of towns in western Kentucky. The following summer, historic floodwaters inundated parts of eastern Kentucky, leaving dozens more dead.

Spring storms systems also battered the state in 2023 and last year, spawning straight-line winds, possible tornadoes and powerful thunderstorms that killed at least 10 people around the state.