The Cincinnati area got between two and three inches of rain over the weekend, with some snow on top of that. Christine Aiena with the National Weather Service says that water has or is flowing into the Ohio River now.
鈥淲e had a really heavy swath of rain from the southwest to northeast, all the way from southwestern Kentucky, Indiana area, all the way to eastern Ohio and Pennsylvania,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o much of this rain fell right through the Ohio River watershed. So we鈥檙e expecting quite a bit of water to get dumped into the Ohio (River.)鈥�
Aiena says the river should climb to .
At 54 feet, the Little Miami River usually starts backing up, and there's flooding around Newtown. Several streets in the East End and California will be underwater, along with the Sawyer Point Amphitheater.
鈥淩iverside Drive down in Covington is probably going to flood at this level,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e look a little bit father upstream and downstream, we鈥檙e also going to see flooding, low lying areas, in New Richmond in Clermont County, and we look in the other direction, there鈥檚 Water Street in Aurora, Indiana.鈥�
Jake Ryle with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says it's not just the Ohio River.
鈥淲e are noticing some roads that are having to be closed or blocked off in certain locations because of those creeks and those rivers.鈥�
Ryle says they are .
鈥淲e did have one mudslide that was reported on KY 6335 in Campbell County, but that was cleared actually late last night/early this (Monday) morning,鈥� Ryle says. 鈥淓verything else you鈥檙e seeing on those roads are actually high water that鈥檚 blocking the road.鈥�
Ryle says barricades stay up until the water goes down, and engineers can make sure the road isn't damaged.
鈥淲e鈥檝e already had several reports from our maintenance crews seeing several folks deciding to drive around the signage,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e need people to make sure when they see the signs that they turn around and don鈥檛 drown.鈥�
Aiena says in addition to that saying, plan ahead. 鈥淭hings that we recommend 鈥� especially with this river starting to rise 鈥� please just know your location,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ake sure you have a plan. Know which streets may have water on them. Have a backup exit route from your neighborhood if you need to.鈥�
Aiena says this flooding is pretty much right on schedule.
鈥淲e actually haven鈥檛 hit flood stage for the Ohio River at Cincinnati for a little bit of time here,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he last time we hit flood, officially, was in March 2021.鈥�
Aiena says there have been several crests since then, but none hitting the flood stage of 52 feet.
鈥淏ut all those high crests were in February, April, March.鈥�
The forecast for the Ohio River as of Monday afternoon shows the level dropping below flood stage Friday.
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