Mammoth Cave Breaks 60-Year Flood Record After Severe Storm

Historic rainfall in Kentucky has led to record-breaking water levels inside Mammoth Cave National Park, though most of the massive cave system remains open to visitors.

“This is just a natural process”, said Mammoth Cave public information officer, Molly Schroer. “This is a karst area, so the water in this part of Kentucky really funnels underground very quickly.”

The cave interior reached its highest water levels in over 60 years during last weekend’s storms, writes WBKO News.

Vertical passages

Schroer explained that the cave system couldn’t handle the amount of rainfall that poured through the region. “That’s how these caves formed; water dripping in quickly and forming those vertical passages pushing out horizontally,” she explained.

Currently, only the Historic Tour remains closed to visitors due to flooding, while other tour options continue to operate.

“Luckily because Mammoth Cave is so big and we have so many different tour options if one area closes, we are able to reroute people to other tour sections in the park,” Schroer said.

Clean out the mud
Park officials expect to reopen the Historic Tour soon. “As soon as it drops down far enough and our maintenance crews can get in there, clean out the mud, clean off the benches, we’ll be able to resume that tour again, hopefully later this week within a few days,” she added.

Outside the cave, walking trails near river access points are underwater, and ferry services for vehicles are currently suspended until water levels go down.

The flooding hasn’t stopped tourists from visiting. Abraham, a child visiting from Michigan with his family during spring break, shared his experience: “It took 8 hours to come here and it took a pretty long time. We reached 5,000 steps in the cave and it was pretty fun, and I also saw a bat.”

Mammoth Cave National Park remains open and welcomes visitors despite the unusual conditions.