The bloated Ohio surged to a 64.7-foot crest at Cincinnati on Wednesday, the highest flood in the Tristate since Lyndon Johnson was president. Four bodies have now been recovered in Falmouth. In all, confirmed deaths from the floods reached five in Ohio and 17 in Kentucky.
Communities downstream have yet to experience the worst the river has to offer.
The volume of water rushing through the Tristate has been monstrous. At Wednesday's crest, the flow was 5,161,890 gallons per second. Meanwhile, the Licking River, a tributary of the Ohio, was leaving behind acres of foul-smelling muck, hundreds of destroyed buildings and muddied corpses. Federal, state and local officials started to answer that problem Wednesday with visits to flooded areas and emergency meetings. Vice President Al Gore cut short an extended tour of the region because of rain and low clouds.