On This Date Just One Year Ago, The Ohio River Crested At 36.63 feet making it the 8th highest crest on record for the McAlpine Upper!

Credit: Joel Schipper, WDRB

What a stressful and expensive situation we had on our hands early April 2025. The Ohio River was raging along pushing billions of gallons of water into places that didn't want it. Historic flooding unfolded as the McAlpine Upper on the Ohio River crested at 36.63 feet! That blew the 2018 crest out of the water, pun intended, and put it up to the 8th highest crest on record for the McAlpine Upper. It even rivaled the flood back in 1997 which peaked at 38.76 feet. If you do the math, that's the worst river flooding we've experienced in 28 years.

Credit: Joel Schipper, WDRB

Here's the sequence of events that got us to that point. Thanks to the NWS in Louisville for a recap: Multiple rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms impacted the lower Ohio Valley April 1-6, 2025. The first significant wave consisted of severe thunderstorms producing several tornadoes during the afternoon and evening on April 2nd. Flash flooding became a greater concern during the overnight as storms trained over the same locations. Over the next few days, waves of showers and storms rode along the frontal boundary bringing lots of rain which lead to widespread flash and areal flooding. Showers and storms came through daily, until the evening of April 6th. The resultant flooding turned into historic and near-record breaking river flooding along many river basins.

Credit: Joel Schipper, WDRB

Widespread flash flooding occurred over almost all of the area during rounds of heavy rain April 3-6. Numerous roads were closed across multiple counties including major highways in some areas. Multiple water rescues occurred especially over central Kentucky. Some mudslides and landslides also occurred as a result of copious amounts of rainfall. Unfortunately, 3 fatalities occurred in central Kentucky due to the dangerous flooding with 7 flood fatalities total across the state. Moderate to major river flooding occurred on most area rivers due to the excessive rainfall. Some of the hardest hit river basins included the Kentucky, Green, Rough, Rolling Fork and Ohio.