Louisville was one of the hardest hit areas today for extensive flash flooding. A lot of people said they had never seen anything like it. The flooding also extended to numerous other counties in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.
Storms abated this afternoon in that area and there was a fairly quick drain off of the deep flood waters, but the damage had already been done. The notes below are only a small sampling of the information we received this afternoon. This will be a very costly disaster. These notes are in no certain order and were picked at random.
Not only was there historic flooding, but lots of severe thunderstorms were thrown in not to mention the vicious lightning.
* Anna, Illinois in Union County–numerous trees and power lines down from severe thunderstorms. Multiple accidents reported.
* Pine Knot, Kentucky–trees down and, ah, yes, we ate lunch there once en route from Louisville and Lexington back to Birmingham. Itwas the tiniest restaurant I had ever seen and was the only one in the community at the time.
* Georgetown, Kentucky–several roads impassable with 1 to 2 feet of water overflowing.
* Cynthlana, Kentucky–barn destroyed by lightning.
* Seven miles north of Frankfort, Kentucky–numerous roads were closed. Numerous secondary roads in NE Franklin County covered with deep water. Frankfort is, of course,the state capitol.
* Lexington, home of the University of Kentucky–8 to 9 inches of flowing water on a number of roads.
* Peewee Valley, Kentucky–8 to 10 inches of fast flowing water. Several roads were washed out at Edwardsville.
* Stamping Ground, Kentucky–severe thunderstorms damaged numerous buildings. Trees were uprooted and power poles snapped.
* Jeffersonville, Kentucky–5.50 inches of rain between 7:00am and 2:40pm reported by a trained storm spotter.
* Millions of dollars in damage to the main branch of the downtown library in Louisville. Thousands of books destroyed and three bookmobiles were lost.
* Stanton, Kentucky–area was under several feet of water and many businesses were evacuated.
* Four-alarm apartment fire near I-64 in Louisville caused by vicious lightning.
* Montgomery County, Kentucky–numerous roads impassable, including some of the main street.
* At one time, I-65 was closed in downtown Louisville after more than 5 inches of rain fell in only 90 minutes. Homes and basements near Churchill Downs were flooded. At the 800 Building in downtown Louisville, cars were submerged in parking lots.
* In New Albany, Indiana, massive downtown flooding with cars floating.
Once again, that is only a small sampling of the numerous reports.
