Spring weather in Kentucky is always unpredictable, but when the meteorologists started predicting rainfall amounts last week, my breath caught. On the second of April, I was up most of the night monitoring the tornado warnings. The rain started on Thursday, April 3, 2025. By the end of the day on Friday, our rain gauge measured six inches. My only worry was that the power stayed on and kept the sump pump running. We are well-removed from any watercourses, but river towns across the Commonwealth don’t have that luxury. On Saturday evening, all my husband and I could do was read about the flooding and gaze, horrified, at the rising water in places we know well, especially our capital city of Frankfort, Kentucky.
But Frankfort has a strong economy – not just because of state workers, but because of the strong tourism industry. My heart is torn about the other impacted towns: Monterey in Owen County; Burgin in Mercer County; Falmouth and Butler in Pendleton County; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Carrollton in Carroll County – and countless other places I haven’t heard about or that are downriver where the floodwater hasn’t yet crested.
Rainfall totals in West Kentucky over the span of three days are staggering. Approximately 13.65 inches fell in Graves County and 12.39 inches in Muhlenberg County. The report from Beeler Hill in Clinton, Kentucky, is a staggering 17 inches of rain, which transforms the small county seat of Hickman County into a veritable island.*
Aerial view of the floods in Frankfort, Kentucky on April 7, 2025. The Singing Bridge is visible at center top; the green roofed building is the Paul Sawyier Library on Wapping Street. At bottom right, the 100 blocks of Watson Court and Wilkinson St are under water.
The swollen Kentucky River creeps toward the rear elevations of buildings on Main Street, Frankfort, Kentucky. Saturday, April 5, 2025, photograph by Lori Macintire.
Our Governor, Andy Beshear, closed Executive Branch offices and thankfully the Legislative branch followed suit. Many state workers live in downtown Frankfort and have had to leave their houses. Although Frankfort has a floodwall designed to hold back a river at 51 feet, it only protects a small part of the city.
Looking north across the Singing Bridge in Frankfort, Kentucky on Monday, April 7, 2025. Photograph by William J. Macintire.
The Kentucky River was “cresting at Frankfort Lock at 48.27 feet (14.71 meters) on Monday morning, just shy of the record of 48.5 feet (14.78 meters) set there on Dec. 10, 1978, according to CJ Padgett, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Louisville, Kentucky, office.”** The historic 1937 flood crested at 47.6 feet.
Two of my favorite historic houses on Wilkinson Street in Frankfort. These houses were flooded.
This early 20th century house is on the flooded Watson Court in Frankfort, Kentucky.
The sun came out yesterday, but a cold front swept in over night, and temperatures are supposed to be below freezing again tonight. The water should start to recede but I hope once the immediate drama fades, people don’t forget these communities and the residents who have been dealt such grievous blows.
*Beeler Hill report by Roy Dale of Clinton, Kentucky.
**https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/rivers-flood-towns-in-kentucky-after-a-prolonged-deluge-of-rain
Thank you! Probably the best coverage I’ve seen. You missed your calling.