By Roger Alford
The Associated Press

OLIVE HILL - A Michigan man drowned in a northeastern Kentucky cave when heavy rains caused an underground stream to flood.

The victim was identified as Allen Booth, 22, of Ypsilanti. He was found about 150 feet inside a small cave at Horn Hollow.

Two juveniles in the same cave were able to escape, said Roger Haney, with Carter County Search and Rescue.

"Apparently the victim drowned while the others were coming out," Haney said. "Once they realized they were in danger, they turned to leave and were met by a wall of water."

The three males went into the cave about 4 p.m. Monday. The cave is on the border of state and private land. Haney said it was still unclear weather the cave was on state park property.

Because of bad weather, Carter Caves State Park officials had warned tourists to stay clear of all 25 caves on the grounds and had stopped giving permits to tour the caves at 1 p.m.

"The two survivors had to exit the cave by swimming underwater," Haney said of the two juveniles from Ohio.

Booth's body was found about 9 a.m. Tuesday by crews searching for him. Haney said the high water prevented a search Monday night.

Park Superintendent Lisa Davis said the males had gone into an unguided cave in a remote area about two miles from the park's visitors center.

She would not release the identities of the two other males.

This was the second drowning in Kentucky caused by flash flooding. The body of a 6-year-old, identified as Beverly Yarber, was found Monday afternoon three miles downstream from the point where she went into Drowning Creek in Estill County. Yarber had been missing since Saturday when the flooded creek pulled her from the hand of her grandfather.

The girl was in a car with her mother and grandfather as they crossed a narrow bridge across Drowning Creek, about eight miles from the Kentucky River. Swift water from the swollen stream pushed the car over the edge of the bridge. It was found some 200 yards downstream Sunday.

In Pike County, heavy rains forced evacuations in the areas around Virgie and Dorton.

"We have a lot of flash flooding and mudslides," Doug Tackett, head of Pike County Disaster and Emergency Services, said Tuesday.

"The water is still up and we can't get in there yet to check the damages," he said.

Tackett said 15 to 20 major mudslides were reported across the southwestern part of Pike County. No injuries had been reported, but several homes had been knocked from their foundations, Tackett said.

Two inches of rain fell by midday Tuesday on ground that was already saturated, Tackett said. That, he said, is why the flash flooding was so severe.

Thunderstorms soaked the eastern Kentucky counties of Rowan, Elliott, Morgan, Perry, Leslie, Letcher, Pike, Knott and Floyd. Flood warnings were issued for each of those counties.

A flood watch was issued until midnight Tuesday for Bracken, Lewis, Mason, Pendleton, Robertson, Boone, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton and Owen counties.