There's no doubt that if you've been paying attention to the local news lately, you've seen how the Ohio River is rising, encroaching on the shores of Cincinnati. The is the highest the water has reached in some time. It's not quite at the levels of 1997, but it's dramatically higher than it has been in the past few years when mild springtime flooding isn't unusual. Sawyer Point, Yeatman's Cove, the Serpentine Wall, and Smale Riverfront Park are all covered. Mehring Way is blocked, parts of the massive Riverfront Parking Garage are closed to commuters, and shallow water is swirling around the base of the Bengals' Paul Brown Stadium. Outside of Downtown, homes and businesses in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana have already experienced damaging water. By the time I got around to posting these on a Sunday afternoon, the river has risen even higher and could potentially grow by a few more feet on Monday.
Some quick frames made this past Friday, on a dreary day that made the 70's era arena plaza and riverfront look even drearier.
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| - Flood gates up at Great American Ballpark along Mehring Way. |
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| - Beneath the ballpark and arena, floodgates have been secured over a loading dock entrance. |
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| - Standing on the arena plaza that normally looks down at a parking lot. |
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| - Normally, this view overlooks the parking lot of the public landing. |
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| - Arena steps and encroaching water. That dumpster was bobbing up and down as the water flowed by. |
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| - Steps to the arena's main plaza. |
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| - Overlooking the Taylor-Southgate Bridge. |
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| - Arena steps. |
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| - The arena steps that connect with the Taylor Southgate Bridge. Flood or not, they always look this rough. |
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| - One Lytle Place soaked in rain. |
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| - Fort Washington Way and the Downtown skyline. |
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| - The National Steamboat Monument. Normally, the stairs seen in the foreground wrap down and around to the actual riverfront. This photo provides a good reference of how this usually looks. |
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| - The tunnel to the Public Landing beneath the arena and ballpark has become a stagnant canal. |
Followup photos from
a few days later.
