A Kentucky business owner tries to save art.

of Knott County, Ky

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What you need to know

• Pat Bradley, 84, of Knott County, Ky
• She worried that the art in her frame shop might be damaged beyond repair.
• This includes a $700 print by Paul Britt Johnson that was submerged in floodwaters

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“Honestly, I spend more time here than at home,” said business owner Pat Bradley, 84. I have only traveled by it twice. Once my frame, my pictures and other just to cry.

Bradley at 173 W. Main St. owns a floral art and frame shop in Hindman. After midnight on July 28, the flood hit the area, damaging many items in her shop, including some art.

Bradley, meanwhile, isn’t sure if she’ll be able to save a $700 print from artist Paul Britt Johnson — more than a dozen of her paintings were also damaged.

The small business owner found an expensive print in two cardboard boxes and hung it with a water-soaked “Don’t Stop” message.

“I love it and that’s my motto: never quit,” she said. “I told a little girl this morning – she texted me and she was so down and I said, ‘We can’t. Give it up, we have to go.’

Bradley said she was at her home in Vent, about five miles from Hindman, when the tornado hit. She said her son saved her just in time.

“You have to get out,” he shouted. You have to get out of here, the water is around the house,’ she said. “So I hurried down the hall to the kitchen and as I passed through the hallway the water was coming up my legs. In the basement.”

“The basement I could go through with this thing was already full and that would have been the end of me,” she continued. “I got to the door and he gave me his hand – I went down and he was on my knees.”

Bradley said her son was holding his father in the bed of the pickup truck and water was coming into the cab. She said the family drove to higher ground and watched the water rise all morning.

Ever since the storm hit, Bradley has been sleeping at the Baptist Youth Center directly across the street from her business.

Volunteers from Operation Blessing and Grace Bible Church brought a dozen roses to cheer up Bradley on Sunday. The volunteers said they would bring supplies and help Bradley fix her house.

“When you think of any material you need, please make a list,” said volunteer Barb Sonhalter.

Bradley said she is grateful for all the support.

“I’m so grateful for the crowd’s turnout, it’s unreal,” she said. “I don’t know what we would do without them.

At least 37 people have been killed in the devastating floods, with hundreds still missing. In the days after the storm, more than 1,300 people were rescued.