Great Flood of '37: Two survivor stories

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - January marks the 75th anniversary of the Great Flood of 1937. About 100,000 people were homeless after the Ohio River crested at 80 feet on Jan. 26. Much of the city, including Crosley Field and Coney Island, were flooded.

"It just kept raining and raining and raining, never stopped. Never saw the sun for the whole month. It just wouldn't quit," said 89-year-old flood survivor, Charlie Gribi.

"I was 11 years old and I remember, we were surrounded. We lived up on a hill. We were surrounded by the water," said survivor Vivian Bough.

Gribi and his family became trapped on the second floor of their two story home on River Road in Riverside.

"They sent a couple of boats down to get us out. And we went out over the porch roof, into the boat. And they took us over to dry land," said Gribi.

And like thousands of other tri-state families, the Great Flood of '37 left behind little to salvage.

"So we had the clothes that we had on our back. That was it. We had to go from there," said Gribi.

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