West Seneca, N.Y. (WBEN) - With temperatures rising into the 40s and 50s over the past 48 hours to melt down snow packs, on top of more than a half-inch of rain that fell on Thursday, it led for a perfect formula to see some local flooding across Western New York heading into Friday.
As the day progressed on Thursday, water levels in local creeks and other tributaries continued to rise, which sent waters and ice flowing around the region. However, in some parts of Buffalo and the surrounding communities, the broken up ice started to jam up, making for some creeks to flow over the water's edge and flood surrounding areas.
One area that is prone to flooding waters every single year when the snow melts and the seasons change is the Town of West Seneca and residential areas along the Buffalo Creek and Cazenovia Creek.
In particular, the area around Lexington Green is a hotspot for flooding, as the land around the Buffalo Creek acts almost like a bowl when the water spills over its crest.
West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson even goes as far as saying Lexington Green is the most flood-prone area in the community. That aspect makes preparing for potential flooding even more difficult, especially when conditions all-of-the-sudden change on a whim's notice.
"It's very challenging for us, but it's even worse for the residents, particularly in this area, Lexington Green, that has a propensity to flood," Dickson said. "It can be nerve-racking, because there could be an ice jam and then all of a sudden the water level shoots up, then the ice jam releases and the water level goes down. They're never really quite sure what's going to happen, and it's very frustrating. I understand their frustrations that. You know, why can't we just have a permanent fix to all this? But it's Mother Nature, it's unpredictable, and it's a difficult problem."
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Lexington Green has seen some prominent flooding in the past, especially when it comes to ice jam flooding. Back in 2014, the area experienced major problems, as pieces of ice almost as big as a house rolled into people's backyards due to the rising water levels.
As a result of the ice jam flooding eight years ago, enhanced measures were set in place to try and limit further flooding problems in the area.
"We're standing on something that was put in in 2014. They're giant bags full of broken up concrete, two deep, that form kind of a berm," Dickson explained. "It's nothing permanent, it's not completely waterproof, but it's very good. It has been so far at preventing some floods."
In addition, there is an alarm system in place so that the town can be noticed of high water levels when the creek gets backed up to a point where storm water triggers the alarm in the drains. That alarm will then allow folks from the town to close the gate to prevent water from going into the subdivision.
With the risks of flooding being a prevalent risk every year, town workers and other personnel, including emergency services, are prepared for just about whatever is thrown their way.
"All the responders in town, pretty much headed up by the highway superintendent, as well as our Emergency Services Manager, they get together and they talk just to make sure everything's set, everything's arranged," Dickson said. "From pumps, to sandbags, to buses in case we have to evacuate people, to getting the Union Fire Hall ready in case we have to put people up there. All that goes into it, but again, they do this almost every year, maybe once or twice a year. So they're very experienced at doing it."
Despite the years of experience and the preparation that goes into responding to rising creek waters, the one thing that is always difficult to forecast is how severe the ice jamming will be each time the snow melts, among other factors.
"It depends all sorts of factors, the thickness, the temperature, the volume, [things like that]. So that's what's unpredictable for anybody," Dickson said. "Even if you look at the National Weather Service's website, they'll predict levels for the creeks, but that doesn't include ice jamming, because it's just very difficult to predict."
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As for the people that live in the Lexington Green area, they are well-aware of the risks every single year the waters start to rise due to ice jams and warming temperatures. They are happy to have the berm in place and the alarm system to help alert the town of rapidly rising waters, but know it's not going to always avoid waters flooding the area.
One resident said he lives over by where a pump was set up at a drain near the corner of Brian Drive and Gregory Lane. He is amazed at how water can flow in so fast from the creek, and how vast the water can flood the area.
Of course, when the waters start to get at alarmingly high levels on the local creeks and streams, Dickson says residents of the affected areas will get the alert from the Town of West Seneca to make sure they take proper actions.
"We have a system that calls all landlines, as well as any cell phone that people signed up for. So we can alert the residents pretty quickly. Also, they can watch Facebook, or things like that, but it's fairly easy. In a real emergency, the police and the fire departments will be down here, getting people out of their houses."
You can listen to our entire conversation with Dickson below:
