Ohio River at Paducah less than a foot from cresting

Rivers are beginning to crest across the area, and others are within 24-48 hours of expected crest. 

The Ohio River at Paducah is less than a foot away from its crest.

On Saturday night, the downtown gauge was at moderate flood stage of 47.53 feet. The latest forecast is for the river to crest at 48.2 feet on Wednesday morning, and hold at that level until it starts to slowly recede on Friday morning.

The river is not forecast to reach major flood stage of 52 feet. It's also not forecast to reach the bottom of the floodwall gates that were installed last week.

As the main parent river system nearby drops we expect the roadway flooding that has plagued the area for more than a week to begin to improve. It may be another 2-3 days before we start seeing widespread improvements.

The Ohio River at Cairo is currently cresting below its major flood stage of 53 feet. On Saturday night the Cairo gauge was at 52.68 feet.

Tributaries like the Little Wabash, White and Green rivers are at major flood stage, backed up by the cresting portion of the Ohio. 

In contrast, the upstream Ohio River at Cincinnati crested on April 7 at 60 feet. It's already 16 feel lower today.