Speaker 1: By Bill Cunningham, the great American. Of course, my hometown
Speaker 1: of Covington is being flooded as we speak. We've had
Speaker 1: reports now from me Richmond later on from Aurora, Indiana,
Speaker 1: but until then, the relatively new mayor of Covington is
Speaker 1: Mayor Ron Washington, who is a hero to many. Did
Speaker 1: a great job in the campaign. In fact, he was
Speaker 1: so good politically that no one ran against him. And
Speaker 1: now he's being tested by fire, ice and flood. Mayor
Speaker 1: Ron Washington, welcome for the second time to the Bill
Speaker 1: Cunningham Show. It. As we sit here about one o'clock
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, can you tell the American people the
Speaker 1: status of flooding in my hometown of Covington.
Speaker 2: I would be glad to thank you, mister Cunningham for
Speaker 2: having me on the city Covington has received some minor
Speaker 2: flooding when you look at the whole picture, around the
Speaker 2: forty fifth Street area of Covington has received flooding. The
Speaker 2: trailer park that we are very concerned about has received
Speaker 2: a small amount of damage. We did evacuate people to
Speaker 2: Latonia Elementary School. A few people took us up on
Speaker 2: the evacuation. The determination is going to be made today
Speaker 2: whether not to keep that evacuation center opened.
Speaker 1: What are the experts tell you about the next twenty
Speaker 1: four to forty eight hours. Has it crested yet or
Speaker 1: is that later sometime today.
Speaker 2: We still do not know when the crest is going
Speaker 2: to happen. I just got off the phone with the
Speaker 2: fire chief. The fire chief indicated that we're still watching
Speaker 2: and seeing. We believe that it is steady. Since last
Speaker 2: night it rose we believe about eight to twelve inches.
Speaker 2: So we've got our eye on it, but we're fully
Speaker 2: confident that it may not be raising anymore. You know,
Speaker 2: we do have the VFW Hall that's off of forty
Speaker 2: seventh Street. It is completely submersed, and and then we
Speaker 2: do have some basements that have anywhere from twelve the
Speaker 2: four feet of water, and we're looking forward to the
Speaker 2: clean up par Washington.
Speaker 1: When I take this suspension bridge and look to my
Speaker 1: right or left, there's a big floodwall there. What is
Speaker 1: the status of the river relative to that high floodwall
Speaker 1: on the right and left side of the suspension bridge?
Speaker 2: Very good question. On the right side, as many of
Speaker 2: you know, where Madison Avenue ends into the floodwall, we
Speaker 2: erected the floodgates several days ago. The water is up
Speaker 2: to the floodgates at the end of Madison Avenue, and
Speaker 2: we also put it at the end of Bakewell Street.
Speaker 2: People may remember that as the former entries to the
Speaker 2: Waterfront restaurant. So the floodgates up there, floodgates up at
Speaker 2: Sixteenth Street, so we're preventing water from going onto our
Speaker 2: main streets. Now to the left, if you're coming south
Speaker 2: on the suspension bridge, you have Riverside Drive. Riverside Drive
Speaker 2: is a very scenic drive. I WRO It is now
Speaker 2: covered with water and debris and some of the statutes
Speaker 2: are underwater.
Speaker 1: If one owns a home in that area and by
Speaker 1: the way, Riverside that's beautiful, it's gorgeous. Are those homes
Speaker 1: inundated yet? Will they be? What is the status of
Speaker 1: those Antebellum homes on Riverside Drive?
Speaker 2: So far, they have not been inundated. It's just the roadway.
Speaker 2: The park, there's a George Rogers Park is there. It's
Speaker 2: received from water. But reporting as of now is that
Speaker 2: those homes are safe and we don't perceive a problem
Speaker 2: with those beautiful homes.
Speaker 1: And as far as the as far as the Licking River,
Speaker 1: what is the status of the Licking River.
Speaker 2: Well, the Licking River is what's causing the trouble in Latonia.
Speaker 2: Uh you know, Latonia is also the Licking River. And
Speaker 2: and like I reported before, it's it's it's we believe
Speaker 2: it's steady right now. But it has done some damages
Speaker 2: to some basements in the forty fifth area, the VSW
Speaker 2: forty seventh Street. It is underwater, of course, it sits
Speaker 2: directly on the Licking River. But thankfully and prayerfully, at
Speaker 2: this time no one has been hurt.
Speaker 1: If you can recall, maybe you were in service to
Speaker 1: our great nation in the military, but in nineteen ninety
Speaker 1: seven the flood went over the top of the flood
Speaker 1: wall and had some real difficulties to anticipate this time
Speaker 1: that's going to happen or not, Assuming the status quo
Speaker 1: is maintained, assuming it doesn't rain anymore, and assuming the
Speaker 1: high River goes up another foot maybe eighteen inches, will
Speaker 1: a floodwall hold.
Speaker 2: Floodwall will hold. I was not in the military as
Speaker 2: a police officer, the floodwall will hold, you know, So
Speaker 2: we should we should be good.
Speaker 1: All right, So that beautiful hotel where Barry Larkin used
Speaker 1: to live on top of that hotel. When I take
Speaker 1: this Suspenar bridge on the right, and is that accessible
Speaker 1: if someone wants to come into that area, which is
Speaker 1: by the convention center, are you shutting down traffic thither
Speaker 1: and foe? Or can one access the convention center?
Speaker 2: Everyone? If you want to come to the convention center,
Speaker 2: it's a riverside drive. Or excuse me, to Second Street
Speaker 2: where the hotels are where our beloved CORPORATEX is no problems.
Speaker 2: You can park there, the parking garage is fine. Everything's fine.
Speaker 2: On the other side of the floodwall.
Speaker 1: Where your life jacket not so good. Riverside drive? Is
Speaker 1: this gorgeous? But is that inaccessible? Now? For those who
Speaker 1: know what we're talking about. When you go on the
Speaker 1: suspension bridge on the left, are some of those homes
Speaker 1: one hundred years old a little bit up on the
Speaker 1: top of a little hill overlooking the high River. Can
Speaker 1: someone access those homes or not?
Speaker 2: They can access them from their alley ways, but they
Speaker 2: cannot access their front doors unless they have a rowboat
Speaker 2: because the street is covered with water.
Speaker 1: And then the cover up's going to take a while.
Speaker 1: Correct because these things happened normally. It's the it's the
Speaker 1: it's the fight afterwards to get rid of all the
Speaker 1: debris and the mud that's going to be the problem
Speaker 1: looking forward.
Speaker 2: That's correct. And a special shout out to our public works.
Speaker 2: You know, they're the unsung, unseen heroes of our city
Speaker 2: that keep the trains running on time. And they've done
Speaker 2: a great jobs erecting the flood walls and putting barricades
Speaker 2: up where Riverside Drive is and and River Road where
Speaker 2: there's uh low lying roadways near the river. And also
Speaker 2: our fire department who went door to door, especially in
Speaker 2: our trailer park and the forty fifth Street area to
Speaker 2: warn people about the flooding. So hats off to them.
Speaker 1: So really it's a problem, not yet a crisis. Have
Speaker 1: you ordered any evacuations, any orders on the citizens of Covington.
Speaker 2: No, no evacuations, No evacuation, No evacuations, no evacuations. The
Speaker 2: trailer park was evacuated, but you know that that evacuation
Speaker 2: took two days ago. It was a voluntary evacuation. It
Speaker 2: was not an order from the government so to speak.
Speaker 2: We did provide shelter for them at our Latonia elementary school,
Speaker 2: and we suspect that the evacuation shelter will be shut
Speaker 2: down today.
Speaker 1: And one thing I talked to Rob Sanders over the weekend.
Speaker 1: We texted back and forth. Is there be any incidences
Speaker 1: of looting or unusual criminal behaviors your knowledge?
Speaker 2: No, I've remind you that we're talking about Kentucky. No,
Speaker 2: there hasn't been.
Speaker 1: Not in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: It doesn't happen.
Speaker 1: I Covington doesn't.
Speaker 2: We're don't allow that. We put cons up you.
Speaker 1: No question about it. You haven't Comington a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of real functional police officers. Well, Mayor Ron Washington, we
Speaker 1: have to go. You're being tested by fire and by flood,
Speaker 1: and the first few months of your titular head of
Speaker 1: the Covington government has been interesting and I'm sure coming
Speaker 1: to will get along quite well. And once again, Mayor
Speaker 1: Ron Washington, thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham, Jean
Speaker 1: and Mary, you're a great American. Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1: Take care. Let's continue with more and if the line
Speaker 1: becomes available five one, three, seven, four, nine, seven thousand
Speaker 1: or pounds seven hundred. The New at and T. Bill
Speaker 1: Cunningham on news radio seven hundred WLW