LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Ohio river continues to climb in Louisville with the water level a few feet shy of what’s considered a major flood.
Most of Mellwood Avenue is underwater. Cars are almost completely submerged with the water still rising.
The water was at the doorstep of Mom’s Music on Mellwood Avenue.
“As we can see, we don’t have much room for error,” said Jeff McNicol, Mom’s Music owner.
The water levels outside the store started getting high this weekend and are expected to rise about another foot or so.
“We feel like if we do get a little bit of water in and, like I said, there’s a lot of people having a lot worse. So, we feel blessed,” McNicol said.
Mom’s Music has been around for 45 years. Jeff McNicol became the owner in 2020, but music has always been a part of his life.
“My father was a musician. I started playing drums at about four, and switched to guitar at 13 or 14,” McNicol said.
McNicol and his crew moved amplifiers and guitars off the floor to higher ground to prepare for the water.
“You’d see lots of guitar amplifiers all in this area, bass amplifiers, some of the stuff we just stacked up, but there’s probably about ten times more things that go all along that wall,” he said.
McNicol said foot traffic was down because the parking lot is completely submerged. The store moved music lessons from in-person to online.
“It’s difficult, there’s a lot of great instructors out there can do it virtually, but we just feel like the in-person method is probably the most effective,” he said.
Downtown Louisville is also facing significant flooding. A boat and other debris are on the Great Lawn at Waterfront Park. That’s where Thunder over Louisville was going to be before it was canceled.
“When Thunder over Louisville was originally planned to be the Ohio River is still expected to be at around 30-foot level which is 18 feet higher than normal,” Mayor Craig Greenberg, D-Louisville, said.
McNicol said he was going to come check out the shop Tuesday night as the river reached its peak.
“Everybody stay safe out there and hang in there together, and we’ll get through this thing, Louisville always does,” McNicol said
The Ohio River will crest on Wednesday at 37 feet. Louisville’s mayor said this flood will be in the top ten worst for the city.
Projections are showing the river will stay at that level until Thursday before it recedes.
