Green River Ferry closed for extended period of time due to flood damage

MAMMOTH CAVE, Ky. – South-central Kentucky saw extensive flooding after the large amounts of rain we saw nearly two weeks ago, and now we’re learning that flooding impacted a vital piece of transportation on the Green River.

The Green River Ferry will be closed for an unknown amount of time due to damage taken during the historic flooding. The area, which usually sees around 20 feet of water, saw nearly 60 feet of water during its peak flooding. This flooding caused damage to the cables and poles, which help guide the ferry across the river. At one point, the water was so strong it ripped a cable anchor weighing multiple tons out of the ground.

Mammoth Cave National Park officials say this is not something they can just fix in a day as they need to rebuild part of the ferry’s system.

“We’re going to bring in specialists that can look at the structural integrity of what’s left, to see if it can still be used or if it has been compromised enough that it has to be completely removed and restarted. We are working as quickly as we can with our regional and national offices to get those contracts in place, to get the people here to start those studies. And it’s just going to be a long process to do that. It’s just not something we can fix overnight,” said Mammoth Cave National park public information officer Molly Schroer.

Where the ferry resides usually sees an average of 5,000 cubic feet of water run through there every second, but at the height of the flood, that area saw 55,000 cubic feet of water per second.

In the meantime, the ferry will be taken away for repairs, repainting and safety checks to make sure the ferry is safe to ride again once the cables are back in place and ready to guide the ferry across the Green River.