Flooding Causes Cancellation of Louisville Airshow

An airshow involves aerial acts and typically takes about a year to plan. [Shutterstock]

Thunder Over Louisville, the annual airshow and fireworks extravaganza that marks the beginning of the festivities leading up to the Kentucky Derby thoroughbred horse race on May 3, has been canceled due to flooding.

Festival and city officials made the decision on Saturday, citing concerns over heavy rains and the rising Ohio River. Photographs and video of the area show what once were streets and riverbanks covered in brown water and layers of silt and trash and flooded neighborhoods with images of submerged homes and cars. Thunder Over Louisville officials noted there had been several deaths attributed to the flooding, and the assessment of the damage was expected to continue.

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The airshow and fireworks display was set to take place on April 12. Because of the logistical complexity of planning the aerial event, show organizers stated it could not be rescheduled but added that at this time the other Kentucky Derby Festival events and the Derby itself are still on schedule.

Officials expect Thunder Over Louisville to return in 2026.

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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.