No flooding was no accident in Taylorsville

TAYLORSVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - The Salt River continued to rise in Taylorsville Tuesday evening as remnants of Hurricane Ida brought hours of rainfall to the area.

City officials were mindful of the possibility of flooding.

“We just watch the water height,” Spencer County Levee Commissioner Dwight Martin said. “As soon as it’s deep enough, we can start pumping.”

A mile and a half long levee separates Taylorsville from the Salt River. It was built with a system of pumps, floodgates, and a catch basin after the 1937 flood when the river came out of its banks and flooded the town.

Eighty-four years later, the levee protected Taylorsville from what was left of a devastating hurricane.

“If it keeps raining like this, the gates will close ... and we’ll start pumping water,” Martin said.

Martin said the county’s two pumps can move 10,000 gallons of water per hour. The loud engines powering the pumps make sounds Martin hopes he won’t have to hear.

The Salt River will have to rise significantly before floodgates close, leading to a need for the pumps. It that becomes necessary, Martin said, “We will be here all night.”

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