Kentucky Has State of Emergency Regarding Flooding

Similarly to Vermont, the Bluegrass State is now suffering from an overabundance of water. Governor Jim Gray has declared a State of Emergency in direct response to these events.

Details

This Declaration is very different from the one in Vermont. Whereas Vermont’s Declaration was very vague about who it applied to and what it allowed those people to do, the one in Kentucky is specific in its purposes, and applies directly to the trucking industry, no contacting of regulators required.

Namely, this Declaration, which can be read on the relevant FMCSA webpage, provides three forms of relief to commercial vehicles traveling in Kentucky to provide flood relief:

1. Hours-of-service exemption. This is likely the same as almost all previous hours-of-service exemptions, meaning that a driver who goes outside his or her daily limit must immediately take a ten hour break.
2. Suspension of registration requirements. Presumably, this does not grant trucks previously deemed unfit for service a free pass to drive, as that would create a safety hazard during an already tumultuous time. Instead, it allows out-of-state truckers and truckers who had previously retired and have an old truck to operate within Kentucky without fear of regulatory fines for not paying to use a truck.
3. Bypass weigh stations. Commercial vehicles do not need to spend the extra time queueing up at weigh stations and instead can keep on going to their respective destinations.

The Declaration contains a very important stipulation: drivers operating under it must keep a copy of the Official Order in the cab of the vehicle in order to be protected by it. If you plan to deliver blankets to those displaced by the flood, it is imperative that you print out the document and keep it with you until the State of Emergency has subsided.

Conclusion

The State of Emergency will no longer be in effect on August 18th. Officials hope that the summer heat will help evaporate the rampant flooding and that required repairs will be completed by then, but there is always the potential that the Declaration may need to be extended (though we hope it does not come to that).

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