Is the Ohio River flooding?
The Ohio River is tracked by 13 USGS streamgauges in Kentucky. This page compares each gauge’s live water level against its official National Weather Service flood stage, refreshed every 15 minutes, so you can tell whether the Ohio River is running normal, rising toward flood stage, or already flooding. 9 of 13 gauges have both a usable water-level reading and a published minor flood stage. Gauges without a published flood stage show water level and flow only. For nearby rivers, see all Kentucky river levels.
River facts
The longest-running gauge on this river is Ohio River at Louisville, KY. The highest level ever recorded there was 85.44 ft on 26 January 1937, carrying 1,110,000 cfs. Peak records there go back to 1832 (161 annual peaks). It is currently at 13.82 ft, 71.6 ft below that record.
| Gauge | Status | Stage | Flood stage | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio River at Ashland, KY | No flooding | 35.37 ft | 52 ft | |
| Ohio River at Greenup Dam near Greenup, KY | No flooding | 12.92 ft | 54 ft | |
| Ohio River at Maysville, KY | No flooding | 34.83 ft | 50 ft | |
| Ohio River at Markland Dam near Warsaw, KY | No flooding | 19.43 ft | 51 ft | |
| Ohio River at Louisville, KY | No flooding | 13.82 ft | 55 ft | |
| Ohio River at Henderson, KY | No flooding | 12.82 ft | 36 ft | |
| Ohio River at Uniontown Dam, KY | No flooding | 12.70 ft | 37 ft | |
| Ohio River at Old Shawneetown, Il-Ky | No flooding | 16.13 ft | 33 ft | |
| Ohio River at Paducah, KY | No flooding | 16.23 ft | 39 ft | |
| Ohio River at Kosmosdale, KY | No current data | — | — | — |
| Ohio River at Water Tower at Louisville, KY | No flood stage defined | 13.17 ft | — | |
| Ohio River below Riverview Pk near Louisville, KY | No flood stage defined | 12.15 ft | — | |
| Ohio River at Riverport at Owensboro, KY | No flood stage defined | 19.45 ft | — |
About the Ohio River
At Louisville the Ohio River drains roughly 91,000 square miles of the eastern United States, gathering runoff from Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky before continuing to the Mississippi. It is a big, slow-responding river, and its floods are measured in weeks rather than hours.
The Great Flood of 1937
January 1937 remains the benchmark against which every Ohio River flood is measured. Nearly 19.2 inches of rain fell on Louisville that month. The river crested about 30 ft above its 55 ft flood stage, put roughly 60 percent of the city under water, and forced the evacuation of about 230,000 of Louisville's 350,000 residents. It stayed above flood stage for 23 days.
Across the Ohio and Mississippi valleys the flood killed several hundred people and caused damage estimated in the hundreds of millions of 1937 dollars. It directly drove the flood-control system — floodwalls, levees and upstream reservoirs — that shapes how the river behaves today.
A slow river, and what that means
Unlike a Hill Country creek, the Ohio at Louisville integrates rainfall across an enormous basin. Water that falls in Pennsylvania takes days to arrive. That makes the river comparatively predictable: forecasts have real lead time, and a crest is usually visible days ahead.
It also means the river stays high for a long time once it rises. The risk on a river like this is less about being caught by surprise and more about prolonged inundation — saturated levees, closed roads, and backwater flooding up the tributaries.
Reading this river
Because the Ohio is heavily regulated by upstream dams, the level at any gauge reflects both natural runoff and reservoir operations. A rise with no local rain is normal here and often reflects releases upstream.
The long record at Louisville — peak observations going back to the 1830s — makes it one of the better gauges in the country for putting a current reading in historical context. The river facts block above compares today's level directly with that record.