Frankfort braces for historic Kentucky River crest, flood concerns linger across state
Keep the umbrellas close, Kentucky: More rain is coming.
That’s unwelcome news for many in the commonwealth already overwhelmed by the days-long deluge of rainfall that has soaked their backyards, flooded their sewer systems and turned placid creeks into roaring rivers.
Here in Central Kentucky, Franklin County is bearing the brunt of four consecutive days of rain and thunderstorms. On Friday, a 9-year-old boy died after being swept away in floodwaters on the way to his school bus stop.
Now, the Kentucky River — the central vein that defines Frankfort’s historic downtown — is threatening to rise to nightmarish levels.
The downtown Frankfort section of the river is projected to crest at 47 feet Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service, just 1.5 feet shy of its all-time record set in 1978. It would be the third-highest crest recorded in Frankfort in more than 200 years of keeping track.
It rivals a historic 1937 flood, which covered most of the town and led to the creation of the city’s flood wall.
A “major flood” in Frankfort is when the water hits the 40-foot mark.
“The Frankfort area, and downstream from Frankfort, is the one that’s really, really under the gun. The worst of the flooding on the major rivers, it’s centered right on top of the Bluegrass region, northern and western parts of Kentucky,” WKYT Chief Meteorologist Chris Bailey said Saturday.
Franklin County Magistrate Sherry Sebastian lives along the banks of the Kentucky River and has already moved all of her items from her flooded basement. She said the main source of anxiety for her and her neighbors is the continually rising river crest projection.
“There’s a heightened sense of concern here because the flood level continues to increase. It was 41.5 feet, then it was 46 and now it’s 47,” Sebastian said.
“This is going to be really insane. The dark is falling and the river keeps coming up. We don’t have a clear picture of what daybreak is gonna bring and the needle continues to move north.”
She said Frankfort will likely shut down several downtown roads if the flood hits the expected mark. Chunks of neighborhoods could be cut off. Though not projected, if the river hits 51 feet, a majority of the downtown could be threatened, as that’s the height of the flood wall.
Sebastian herself spent 12 hours moving items up from her basement on Saturday, which was already starting to flood, to the main floor, on Saturday. That included moving a lot of heavy equipment.
“It’s got a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen, then one room with a barber chair, some pinball machines, a slot machine that’s full of stuff like that that is really heavy,” Sebastian said.
She said she could only do so with the help of her neighbors, a silver lining that’s been evident through the tough circumstances – circumstances made tougher by the passing Friday of Gabriel Andrews, a widely beloved nine-year-old caught in the floodwaters near his home.
“That is just hanging over everyone right now. Those of us who have had to move, that pales in comparison to what the family, the friends, the teachers, everyone who knew Gabe, has felt. It’s unfathomable, it’s unimaginable,” Sebastian said.
As of Saturday evening, the National Weather Service forecast for Lexington called for a little more than two inches of rain through Sunday. Frankfort is expecting roughly the same amount.
One of the most exhausting elements, Sebastian said, is the fact the river hit a historic high just two months ago. Her husband, who runs an excavation business along Old Lawrenceburg Road, has had to move equipment twice in that span.
“We’ll clean up and get everything back to normal so we can live in all of our house. Many of us have been through it before, but no one thought that this was going to happen again this year at all – and this one’s going to be worse than the last one that we just had,” Sebastian said.
Franklin County isn’t the only place hit hard by the rain.
In Woodford County, officials have told residents to avoid using their dishwashers or washing machines, as the city’s sewer system has reached full capacity and was overflowing. Planned power outages also are taking place in other parts of the county.
Powell County has seen the Red River overwhelm much of Clay City and other parts of the county. About 20 roads have been closed there.
Residents in Falmouth, in Pendleton County, just south of Cincinnati, have been forced to evacuate due to the rising Licking River.
Everyone in the central and western Kentucky regions should be on alert, Bailey said.
“The big thing is this: There’s another two, in some cases three or four inches of rain tonight, which is just going to worsen the already major flooding that’s underway.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2025 at 9:56 PM.
