Louisville Flood Map : Showing Flooded Area of Louisville, Kentucky. No one living on the banks of the Ohio River had seen anything like it. A t Louisville, the crest of the 1937 flood is still a full ten feet higher than the second highest crest (set in 1945)! The entire river was in flood, with record flooding from Point Pleasant, WV down to the Ohio's confluence with the Mississippi at Cairo, IL.

The 1937 flood remains the flood of record for many locations along the Ohio River, leaving an estimated 350 dead and nearly 1 Million homeless. The aptly-nicknamed River City and the rest of the nation were trying to emerge from the Great Depression when disaster struck in 1937. In January 1937, the swollen banks of the Ohio River flooded Louisville, Kentucky, and its surrounding areas.

Rain pounded from January 12th to January 23rd, 1937, and along a 650-mile swath reaching from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Ill., the river overflowed its banks. L ouisville received fifteen inches of rain in only 12 days, from the 13th to the 24th of January. The Ohio River rose to 30 feet above flood stage. Flood map of Louisville, KY. Crest of flood January 27, 1937. With one hour’s notice, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White caught the next plane to Louisville. At McAlpine Lock, the 1937 flood crested at 85.4 feet. January 1937. In early January 1937, the swollen banks of the Ohio River flooded more than seventy percent of Louisville, Kentucky, and its surrounding areas. Nearly 400 people died. With one hour’s notice, photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White caught the next plane to Louisville. Overflowed by a lot. By way of comparison, flood stage is 55 feet.