After days of severe storms and torrential rain, parts of Kentucky — especially those located near rivers and streams — were inundated by historic floods.
As of April 8, five flood-related deaths had been reported in Kentucky, according to Gov. Andy Beshear, who has declared a state of emergency. The Ohio River was expected to crest at the McAlpine Lock and Dam upper gauge on April 9 at 37 feet, which is the eighth highest on record, according to the National Weather Service.
In the Archdiocese of Louisville, more than a dozen church properties felt the effects, said Brad Harruff, a claims/risk manager for Catholic Mutual Group, the insurance agency that covers church properties in the archdiocese.
Harruff said more than 10 parishes have reported leaking roofs, St. Albert the Great School had water in basement classrooms, Holy Trinity Church in Fredericktown had taken on water in the basement, and, as of April 8, St. Clare Oratory in Colesburg, Ky., could only be reached by boat.
St. Clare, a former parish that is now under the care of the nearby St. Ambrose Church in Cecilia, Ky., knows a thing or two about flooding, said Father Benedict J. Brown, administrator of St. Ambrose.
“When the meteorologist tells us the Ohio River will crest, the Salt River will crest, the Rolling Fork River will crest, folks around St. Clare know how high it’ll get,” said Father Brown. “They’ve tracked it over the years.”
Inside the 150-year-old church, marks indicate how high water rose during the floods of 1937, 1989 and 1997, he said. The building also flooded in 1964 and 1978, as well, according to records from the Archdiocese of Louisville’s archives.
St. Ambrose parishioner Charlie Wise, who helps care for the oratory, advised Father Brown to expect something close to the 1997 flood this time.
Volunteers who help care for the property swung into action on April 4. Tim Aulbach sent 10 of his workers from The Land Store, and Charles Nall of Nall’s Specialized Hauling sent two tractor-trailers.
“They took the pews, altars, communion rail and other furnishings, placed them in the trailer and hauled them away,” said Father Brown. They also took out the organ, and the front doors, with stained glass panels, were removed and replaced with plywood, he said.
By Sunday morning, April 6, the church had at least two feet of water in the building, Father Brown noted. Wise and Don Waters, the oratory’s unofficial historian, traveled by boat to photograph the exterior, Father Brown said.
“It doesn’t look like it’s receding, but that’s hard to tell by just looking,” he said April 8.
After the water recedes and the cleanup is completed, the next step will be to treat the building to prevent mold and mildew, said Father Brown.
St. Clare, became an oratory in 1996 after the parish closed. Since April of 2018, St. Clare and its cemetery have been in the care of St. Ambrose, about 16 miles away.
Holy Trinity Church in Fredericktown took on less dramatic water levels, but the pastor said he expects the restoration work will require fundraising.
“Our parking lot was flooded — it came up to the steps of the parish office. We had six inches in the church basement,” said Dominican Father Augustine Judd, pastor of Holy Trinity, in a phone interview. Father Judd also pastors Holy Rosary Church in Manton.
Some Holy Trinity parishioners living near the church had to “abandon their homes for prudence’s sake,” he added. Both parishes had lower attendance at Masses for the Fifth Sunday of Lent due to unpassable roads, he said.
As a priest new to the area — Father Judd was assigned pastor of both parishes in July of 2024 — he has been “pleasantly surprised” to see the Holy Trinity community come together, he said.
Before he made a single phone call, parishioners showed up to assist with cleaning and to pump water out of the basement, he said.
“I didn’t have to call anybody. They just take care of it,” he said. “If something needs to be done, they take care of it.”
Father Judd said he expects the flood damage will be a “big fundraising challenge.”
“We have some physical issues we need to look at — especially the roofs,” he added.
At St. Albert the Great School, junior kindergarten and kindergarten students returning from spring break April 7, were welcomed into new “classrooms.”
The basement of the parish’s multipurpose center, Hendricks Hall, ordinarily houses these classes. But it had taken on three inches of water in the flooding, said Larry Brunner, St. Albert’s business manager.
The basement has flooded several times, he said, most recently in mid-February of this year, during periods of heavy rainfall and snow. After two incidents of flooding within a few months, the staff is considering other options for classroom space, he said.
“I don’t think it’s salvageable now,” said Brunner.
The schools’ “remarkable” teachers, whose classrooms were affected, used their spring break to prepare new classroom space in the parish life center, with the help of the maintenance staff, Brunner said.
Because of their efforts, the students didn’t miss a day of education, he added.
