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Floodwaters from the Ohio River submerged Louisville streets, prompting rescues and unusual commutes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Right under I-64 in downtown Louisville, as cars cruise down the highway, feet of water sit just below the interstate.

The Ohio River has crept up to the Galt House, carrying debris and downed wires.

Streetlamps are almost submerged, streetlights just slightly peak over the dark and cold waters of the Ohio, and 4th and River Roads are covered by rising waters.

RELATED: MSD adds 2 more floodwall closures around downtown Louisville

The more than 100 year old Belle of Louisville rises with the Ohio, leading to an unconventional way of employees getting to work.

"I'm getting ready to hop on a little boat and hopefully take me over there to where I can stay a little bit drier," said Watchman Gavin Foushee. "The water go up so much, and the ropes and the wires will go up, and we have to constantly change them every hour, or else the boat will get stranded, or it'll tilt over. You don't want anything bad to happen like that."

Credit: Emma Gefter/WHAS11

Earlier in the afternoon Monday, Louisville Fire used boats to rescue 61 people from Candlewood Suites on Zorn Avenue and five people from the Velaro Gas Station.

The hotel is on dry land, but the road surrounding it was made inaccessible from the rising Ohio River floodwaters. Everyone was rescued safely.

"Just because the rain stops doesn't mean the water is going to stop coming up," a reminder from EMS Director Jody Meiman, as the Ohio continues to climb.

Across the river, Harrison County, Ind. declared a state of emergency.

The Palmyra Sewer Treatment Plant is it's own island and all operations have stopped at the plant.

Credit: Emma Gefter/WHAS11

"I've not seen anything like this before," said Palmyra Town Council President Sami Childers. "It's like thousands of gallons of water that it's just not even feasible to get it out of here. With recommendations, and also talking with the Harrison County Emergency Management people, they basically just suggested to let it recede."

Letting the water recede is the only solution, with no timeline of how long that could take.

Palmyra Township is asking that residents and businesses limit the amount of water they use by taking shorter showers and limiting the amount of flushing and washing you do.

Floodwaters aren't expected to recede significantly in Louisville until early next week.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Ohio River has risen to historic levels, with city officials comparing it to the 1997 flood in Louisville.

As of Tuesday morning, the river at the upper McAlpine locks on the downtown side is at 35.7 feet. The Ohio River is expected to rise another foot when it crests on Wednesday.

Mayor Craig Greenberg says this will go down as one of the worst flooding events in Louisville's history.

Dozens of people have been rescued, including more than 60 people at a hotel on Zorn Avenue who needed to be evacuated due to rising floodwaters.

Floodwaters aren't expected to recede significantly until early next week, according to city officials.

By Saturday, parts of the city will still be submerged in 30 feet of water. Even still, Greenberg says crews won't wait until the water is completely gone to begin focusing on clean-up efforts.

"There is so going to be so much debris left from these historic floods that we're going to get on this right away," he said.

Greenberg said community clean-up opportunities, particularly at Waterfront Park, will be announced in the coming days.

Brian Bingham, chief operations officer for Louisville MSD, said all 16 of the city's flood pumps are operational.

Those pumps, which help keep floodwaters from reaching inland communities, have removed more than 8 billion gallons of water since Friday, April 4. He said around 2.5 billion gallons of water are being pumped out every day, adding the pumps will continue to run through the end of the week.

Bingham said the Ohio River will be just a foot or two shy compared to the river's height during the 1997 flood.

"This was a major win for the community, I know its not gonna feel like that to those who have been impacted," he added, comparing the recent floods to what happened in 1997. "Typically, this would have been an event where we would have had hundreds if not thousands of houses flooded."

Greenberg also warned the community against putting themselves in unnecessary danger. He said on Monday he saw people kayaking on floodwaters.

"Please don't kayak, or go out in the water other ways," he cautioned. "I know this is an interesting, extreme, historic event but by doing things like that you run the risk of getting stuck, which means our first responders will need to come rescue you and you're putting our first responders at risk in addition to yourself."

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Officials recover the body of 50-year-old James Dishon from floodwaters in Bullitt County, marking the fifth flood-related death in Kentucky.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Authorities say they have pulled the body of the man from floodwaters in Bullitt County.

The body of 50-year-old James Dishon was located Tuesday.

Dishon’s death marks the fifth in Kentucky involving high floodwaters.

As the severe weather has passed, Gov. Andy Beshear is still warning of the dangers of being in floodwaters.

"When you do that, you not only put your life in danger, you put the lives of everybody who's coming to rescue you in danger," Beshear said.

Authorities have not release any other details surround Dishon's death.

On the scene, crews were paddling out and divers were in suits searching for the missing man in Lebanon Junction.

Credit: Dishon Family

James Dishon

Dishon was found in the floodwaters on Lee Booth Road off South Preston Highway.

“I think he was just trying to go home,” Lebanon Junction Fire Chief Adam Heath said. “There’s not a lot of residents that want to leave their house. It’s home to them.”

Heath said the body was located at about 11:45 a.m. on Tuesday just few feet away from his floating truck, and yards away from his home.

“It really hurts your heart when actual life comes into it,” neighbor Jim Stark said.

Stark said the small, Lebanon Junction community is like family.

On Monday, a WHAS11 crew on the scene spoke with the victim's father, James Dishon Sr., and the victim's son, Dakota James Dishon, who were both praying James would be found safe.

“Come out here this morning and we found his truck in the water,” James Dishon Sr. said on Monday, which was day one of the search. “So, we don’t know where he’s at.”

The search began when water was even higher than it is now.

“I had seen the rescue teams and the truck in the middle of the road turned sideways, so I asked who’s it was, and they said it was a Dodge Ram 3500, and it had seemed to look like my dad’s,” Dakota said.

Heath said it's the “unknowns” that make a search like this difficult.

“There were no witnesses, there was just a vehicle in the water,” Heath said.

He reminds everyone to turn around, don't drown.

“Mother Nature is going to do what it wants to do, and you can’t predict it,” Heath said.

It’s a message echoed in every flood, but this time, it took on a new meaning for Stark and his neighbors.

“Life is precious, and water is nothing to be messed with,” Stark said. “When people say turn around don't drown, that's what they mean."

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They say bad things happen in threes, and Louisville restaurants within steps of the Ohio River might agree.

In the early months of 2025, two significant floods caused stretches of River Road, and the restaurants on it, to temporarily close, with water levels creating varying levels of worries for each eatery’s storefront and bottom line.

Another blow landed on Saturday, when Thunder Over Louisville, a busy event for restaurants with riverfront views, was canceled due to the most recent pummeling of rain across Kentucky and accompanying flood risks near the Louisville waterfront.

Both River House Restaurant, 3015 River Road, and KingFish, 3021 River Road, are typically popular hangout spots for Thunder Over Louisville and, as of Monday, the neighboring businesses are closed until further notice. The title for best views for Thunder Over Louisville, though, would be reserved for the KingFish location across the river in Jeffersonville, Ind. That location’s highly-anticipated Thunder Over Louisville party has essentially been tossed out, along with many hours and dollars of preparation.

“It’s been a rough year,” KingFish vice president Greg Wortham told The Courier Journal. “It's kind of coming at you from all sides.”

Wortham said the umbrella of unfortunate events also includes a few closed days in January due to snow and construction-related road closures in March, which resulted in a 30-40% loss of sales per week. On top of that, KingFish’s closure comes during Lent, one of the busiest seasons for a seafood restaurant.

As rising waters made KingFish inaccessible to staff and patrons, the location closed Saturday evening. Wortham says he anticipates staying closed for at least a week.

“You get frustrated,” he said. “It’s part of having a business on the river. It’s going to happen, but to have two floods in one year…”

It’s not ideal.

For the nearby River Road BBQ, more land separates the small barbecue joint from the river, but that hasn’t halted the damage.

“This is probably the most stressed I’ve been since 2020,” Krissy Davis, River Road BBQ’s general manager and owner/operator, told the Courier Journal, referencing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photos shared with Davis, who in 2016 took over the business from her uncle, Jon Gudmundsson, show the restaurant more than halfway underwater.

“It’s more than a one-two punch,” she said. “It’s like a one, two, three, four, five punch.”

Ahead of recent severe weather, Davis said she moved everything out of the restaurant. She has most items, including tables, a refrigerator, and oven, on wheels for that reason.

“We could teach a masterclass on it,” she said of flood preparations. “This is what we do.”

But that doesn’t sway the unknowns awaiting when she returns to River Road. She suspects drywall and electrical repairs will be in order.

“Basically, we wait and see,” Davis said.

Several miles away, Captain’s Quarters Riverside Grille near River Road in Prospect offered an up-close view of the “mess” via a Facebook video posted Monday afternoon.

“This will be a doozy,” owner Andrew Masterson said in the video, while circling the restaurant, surrounded by mud-colored water, in a boat. “It’s gonna be a good little clean up.”

On Sunday, Masterson posted a video showing the interior of the restaurant, which he and his staff emptied to a shell ahead of the flood. He also pumped the restaurant with clean water to hopefully fight the rush of dirty outside water. In the video, several friends, drinks in hand, could be seen wading in the clear water, a sight Masterson said was staged and “just for fun.”

On a serious note, Masterson called this second flood of 2025 "a huge interruption to our business" and one that comes at significant cost.

"We know it comes with the territory of being on the river,” Masterson said in the video. “We’ll be working tirelessly to get back open for all of our friends and our fans.”

Davis, at River Road BBQ, said the restaurant may try a pop-up style operation to bring in revenue, especially during the busy months ahead, when, on nice days, people driving on the picturesque River Road smell the smoker and stop by for some barbecue. During Thunder Over Louisville, patrons are known to order carryout for picnics. But that won't be possible this year.

“The entire Derby season is helpful for us,” she said. “So this affects us.”

One thing is for certain, though.

“I refuse to close,” she said. “We just have to be flexible.”

And she hopes the Louisville community will show up when River Road BBQ reopens, a sentiment shared by Walthorn of KingFish.

“Something like this will leave a long lasting effect on us,” he said. “We would just hope that people can support us to help once this has passed.”

Reach food and dining reporter Amanda Hancock at ahancock@courier-journal.com.

This story was updated to add a gallery and to change a video.

Kentucky Venues will begin demolition of Newmarket Hall to make way for new 350,000-square-foot facility.

The Kentucky Exposition Center is set to begin a new, $180 million phase of renovation and expansion work.

Kentucky Venues on Tuesday said crews will begin demolishing parts of the existing facility, including Newmarket Hall. The cleared space will pave the way for Phase I of the project, which is a new 350,000-square-foot multipurpose building designed to expand and redefine event capabilities at the facility.

“The Kentucky Exposition Center is a globally recognized events facility, home to a tremendous amount of history and now undergoing some long overdue enhancements,” said David Beck, president and CEO of Kentucky Venues, in a news release. “With the support of and direct appropriation by the Kentucky General Assembly, our expansion and renovation will mark the most significant change to our footprint since 1956, transforming it into a venue capable of hosting major events at a scale never seen before.”

Phase I of the project will feature a $180 million investment in a 350,000-square-foot, multipurpose building that will become the facility’s largest Class A exhibit hall.

This expansive, interconnected space will sit just east of Broadbent Arena and north of the West Wing. Newmarket Hall and a portion of the existing pavilion will be demolished to make way for the construction of the new building.

Within the $213 million Phase II, the Exposition Center will redevelop the West Wing, West Hall, and Pavilion into a 249,000-square-foot multi-purpose wing. This phase will also enhance food and beverage operations in the South Wing.

The projects were made possible by hundreds of millions in appropriations from the Kentucky General Assembly. The work will make the center the fifth-largest convention center in the U.S.

The work on Phase I is expected to wrap up by the end of 2026.

Calhoun Construction Services is the construction manager and Schmidt Associates is the architect on the project. Officials also have been working with dozens of other subject-matter experts, including equine experts, to make sure it's the best site for all events that use the Expo Center space, a Kentucky Venues spokesperson told LBF.

Constructed in 1968, 12 years after the Expo Center first opened, Newmarket Hall served generations of people as a hub for livestock auctions, horse sales, educational lectures and countless gatherings tied to signature events like the Kentucky State Fair and the North American International Livestock Exposition.

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