Torrential rain earlier this week caused unprecedented flash flooding in 13 counties in eastern Kentucky.
Many roads and bridges in that mountainous region -- an area hard hit by grinding poverty as the coal industry declines -- have been damaged or destroyed, and with cell phone service disrupted, finding survivors is difficult.
"I'm worried we are going to be finding bodies for weeks to come," Governor Andy Beshear said in a midday news briefing, shortly after tweeting that the death toll had risen to 25.
The Democratic governor confirmed that "we are still in the search and rescue phase," saying, "We will get through this together."
Beshear said an earlier report that six children were among the dead was inaccurate; two of them had turned out to be adults.
The children, US media reported, were lost in a heart-rending way. Members of a family, clinging to a tree after a fast-rising stream had engulfed their mobile home, saw their children torn from their grip, one after another, by powerfully surging waters.
Beshear said national guard units from Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia had made more than 650 air rescues since the flooding began Wednesday evening, while state police and other state personnel had registered some 750 water rescues.
He said the search was "tremendously stressful and difficult" for rescue teams.
Some areas in eastern Kentucky had reported receiving more than eight inches (20 centimeters) of rain in a 24-hour period.
The water level of the North Fork of the Kentucky River at Whitesburg rose to a staggering 20 feet within hours, well above its previous record of 14.7 feet.
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