So in less than a year, Louisville has had a major windstorm, major ice storm, another pretty big windstorm, and now a torrential bout of rain and flooding. I’m not on the ground in Louisville currently to check out the after effects of six inches of rainfall in just over an hour plus several more inches of water after that, but the photos and stories plastering the mainstream media, blogosphere, and twitterscape are pretty dramatic. Thanks to our tipsters for sending in some flooding photos of their own.
Large portions of the city were shut down, all TARC buses were running on a detour with up to 1.5 hours delay, hospitals were evacuated, 10 cats & a dog died at an animal shelter, Churchill Downs had to evacuate horses, tens of thousands without power across the region, and over $1 million of damage at the main branch of the Louisville Free Public Library. Among the unusual scenes of the day: giant geysers of raw sewage:
It almost looked pretty—the fountain-like spray in the middle of Coral Ave. this morning. But then you realize what you are looking at, and about all you can think about is “yuck.”
That wasn’t Old Faithful spewing forth from a manhole near Bingham Park. It was sewage. Spraying about 12 to 15 feet in the air in a nice fine, but powerful mist.
Here’s a wrap-up of flooding news and photos of the damage. Feel free to share your horror stories in the comments. If you’d like to help out the Library recovery effort, here’s where you can send donations:
The Library Foundation
301 York St.
Louisville, KY 40203
or call (502) 574-1709
- Flooding pictures from Churchill Downs and around town (@skustes via The Edit)
- Photos from Cherokee Park show a torrential Beargrass Creek (Fat Lip)
- And a couple photos of the vast lake at the 3rd St. rail viaducts (Fat Lip)
- And here’s a video of some of the aftermath (Weather.com via The Edit)
- Record rainfall in Louisville causes major problems (C-J)
- And the situation was no better on an equally wet Sunny Side (Fox 41)
- Flooding was especially bad around U of L and in Old Louisville (Wave 3)
- Where 50 people were rescued by boat from a U of L building (C-J)
- Many urban neighborhoods were thrown into disarray by storms (Fat Lip)
- And some panicked homeowners didn’t know where to turn (Fat Lip)
- Old Louisville Coffeehouse lends a helping hand to neighbors (C-J)
- West Broadway residents upset about continued drainage problems (C-J)
- Drivers send tidal waves into business while tryin to wade through flood (Wave 3)
- Dozens of public schools flood with first day of classes imminent (WFPL)
- Horses evacuated as Churchill Downs floods (WFPL)
- More coverage from WHAS11, Fox 41, Ville-Voice, Watchdog Earth, Fat Lip
This one was a “shocker,” coming in such an extremely short period – and after local meteorologists had said the cell was safely passing TO OUR NORTH.
TARC may have delayed or detoured SOME routes, but my son was stuck on the Eastern Parkway route, which he boarded just before 9 AM, for MORE THAN 4 HOURS – at which time he called me to attempt a rescue. He was at 4th & Winkler, just to the other side of the notorious viaduct. So of course I couldn’t use Eastern Pky., but they also had Central Ave. blocked. Had to go all the way out to Strawberry Ln. to make my way back in to him… He had sat there for 5 HOURS, in the company of at least 2 OTHER stranded TARCS that apparently were forbidden to try to find any alternate routes…
–Is “Germantown flooding” photo actually on Ash St. in Schnitzelburg?
Wow, that’s quite a flash flood story. Hopefully Louisville can figure out some solutions to our pressing rainwater runoff problems. I’ll try to write more on that later.
The photo you question is in Schnitzelburg I believe. I admit I have been combining Germantown and Schnitzelburg into one area, but I will try to differentiate the two from here on out.