FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The historic Buffalo Trace Distillery has temporarily closed after deadly flooding ravaging Kentucky swept into its facilities, forcing the popular bourbon company to turn away the public and staff.
In a statement released on Sunday, the Frankfort, Kentucky-based distillery said it would remain closed through April 10 but warned that date could change.
Click to Gallery
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In a reflection, community members walk near the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats not the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
The flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats on the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats on the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
The Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky., is seen amid floodwaters on Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall)
The Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky., is seen amid floodwaters on Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall)
“Due to the unprecedented and ongoing rain and flooding, we are not able to advise on the impact to our total distillery footprint,” Buffalo Trace said. “We will assess those realities in the coming days as the facilities become safe to navigate and will make necessary adjustments to operations as required.”
It was not immediately known how much of Buffalo Trace's inventory — ranging from barrels, bottles or other items — may have been damaged. A spokesperson for Buffalo Trace declined to comment further.
Days of unrelenting torrential rain in Kentucky and across the U.S. South and Midwest have caused catastrophic flooding and raised fears the damage could linger for days as rivers swell. In Frankfort, the Kentucky River curves throughout the capital city and has been known to flood.
On Monday, the river was cresting at Frankfort Lock — approaching the record of 48 1/2 feet (14.78 meters) set on Dec. 10, 1978, according to CJ Padgett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Louisville, Kentucky, office.
Buffalo Trace is far from the only distillery in Kentucky, the home of bourbon country, but it is one of the closest to the banks of the Kentucky River. Notably, the distillery has markers of several high-water marks from previous floods inside its Frankfort buildings, with the most recent being the 1978 flood.
As of Monday, several Buffalo Trace buildings were flooded at lower levels and parking lots and cars were underwater. The water tower bearing the brand’s logo stood over the visitor center and warehouses that appeared to be inundated with water. Residents stopped to take pictures of the well-known bourbon maker’s property as it was flooded out. Traffic signs directing trucks and visitors to parking peeked over several feet of rushing water.
Buffalo Trace Distillery is an American, family-owned company that has operated for more than 200 years. Its products include the holy grail for bourbon fanatics: Pappy Van Winkle 23-year-old, which can sell for tens of thousands of dollars on resale markets.
Kruesi reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In a reflection, community members walk near the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats not the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
The flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats on the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, the flooded Buffalo Trace Distillery is seen on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
In an aerial view, a bourbon barrel floats on the floodwaters of the Buffalo Trace Distillery on Monday, April 7, 2025, in Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
The Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky., is seen amid floodwaters on Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall)
The Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, Ky., is seen amid floodwaters on Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Kristin M. Hall)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli aircraft struck a residential block in war-ravaged northern Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 23 people, health officials said, as the renewed fighting in the devastated Palestinian enclave showed no signs of slowing.
The Al-Ahly hospital said at least 23 people were killed in the strike, including eight women and eight children. The territory's Health Ministry confirmed the figures.
The strike hit a four-story building in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza City, and rescue teams were searching for victims under the rubble, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service. The civil defense, a rescue group that operates under the Hamas-run government, said other neighboring buildings were damaged in the strike.
The Israeli military said it struck a senior Hamas militant who it said was behind attacks emanating from Shijaiyah, but it didn't name him or provide further details. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on the militant group, because it embeds itself in dense urban areas.
As it ratchets up pressure on Hamas to agree to free hostages, Israel has issued sweeping evacuation orders for parts of Gaza, including Shijaiyah. It imposed a blockade on food, fuel and humanitarian aid that has left civilians facing acute shortages as supplies dwindle. It has pledged to seize large parts of the Palestinian territory and establish a new security corridor through it.
The U.N. said the Israeli military has denied aid workers permission for more than two-thirds of 170 attempts to move humanitarian supplies within the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire ended. U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said efforts to get dwindling aid supplies to Palestinians were “severely strained.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment.
Earlier this week, Hamas fired its strongest volley of rockets since the ceasefire collapsed, lobbing 10 projectiles toward southern Israel.
Israel resumed its war against Hamas in Gaza last month after an eight-week ceasefire collapsed. The ceasefire brought a much-needed reprieve from the fighting to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza and sent an infusion of humanitarian aid to the territory. It also led to the release of 25 living Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the return of the remains of eight others, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Mediators have since attempted to bring the sides to a bridging agreement that would again pause the war, free hostages and open the door for talks on the war's end, something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he won't agree to until Hamas is defeated. Hamas wants the war to end before it frees the remaining 59 hostages it holds, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
The war, which was sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, has seen the deadliest fighting between Israelis and Palestinians in their history. It has ignited a humanitarian crisis in already impoverished Gaza, and has sent shockwaves across the region and beyond.
Netanyahu traveled to Washington this week to meet with President Donald Trump. In their public statements, they offered sympathy for the plight of the hostages but shed little light on any emerging deal to suspend the fighting.
Trump has said he wants the war to end. But his postwar vision for Gaza — taking it over and relocating its population — has stunned Middle East allies, who say any talk of transferring the Palestinian population, by force or voluntarily, is a nonstarter. Israel has embraced the idea.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, is under pressure from his far-right political allies to continue the war until Hamas is crushed, an aim Israel has yet to achieve 18 months into the conflict.
French President Emmanuel Macron said France should move toward recognizing a Palestinian state in the coming months. The goal is to do that by June, when France and Saudi Arabia co-host an international conference about implementing a two-state solution, Macron told broadcaster France-5 in an interview aired Wednesday.
The war has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the health ministry there, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count but says more than half of the dead are women and children.
Hamas killed 1,200 people during its Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and took 250 people captive, many of whom have been freed in ceasefire deals.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Angela Charlton in Paris; and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Palestinians receive humanitarian aid distributed by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Israeli soldiers arrest a Palestinian man during an army raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Palestinians hurls a stone at Israeli forces following a military raid in the West Bank refugee camp of Balata, on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
A Palestinians youth who was injured in an Israeli airstrike, is brought for a treatment at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shijaiyah neighborhood, as they brought to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shijaiyah neighborhood, to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Mourners pray next to the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shijaiyah neighborhood, as they brought to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians carry the bodies of their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Shijaiyah neighborhood, as they brought to the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
