LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WBEN) - Lockport residents have spent the last day recovering from Tuesday's flooding caused by five inches of rain.
While many were quick to recover from flooded basements, others, like those who live in apartments along Robinson Road, are wondering about their short-term future after their homes became nearly uninhabitable.
"It's the second time in five days," Jay Rounds said. "The town's pumping water into the yards out of the sewers. Raw sewage was pumping into the buildings. Last night it was overflowing through the bathtubs and our toilets. They just got done replacing the rugs over here. Maintenance has been amazing. They were here until 3 a.m."
There's also a worry the flooding could happen for a third time with rain projected in the forecast later in the week.
"This happened Saturday and we literally just got my apartment cleaned yesterday," Mark Bunyan said. "Within three hours, it re-flooded."
Neither of them know what they're doing next other than cleaning. Bunyan said his life was upended by the flooding and that insurance would not cover the damages sustained by the flood.
If you took a drive through the City of Lockport on Wednesday you may not have thought there was any flooding at all. Other than some remnants of debris on the roads and sidewalks, there was little to notice about the streets that made you think flooding took place there less than 24 hours after flooding.
Lake Effect Ice Cream served customers on Wednesday as if it were business as usual.
"Any direction you looked (on Canal Street) was knee to waist-deep water," Erik Bernardi, owner of Lake Effect Ice Cream, said. "You would think that being situated at the top of the locks that this area couldn't flood. There's actually a slight pitch that comes down towards our building. If it weren't for the steps that were featured online, we don't know how bad it would have been. They acted as an enormous drain for us. It was just water for as far as you could see."
Bernardi said they even had customers back after the water subsided last night.
"They did not realize the disaster had already come and gone," Bernardi said. "There was a couple of young ladies that came out of Lewiston. We said we could give you some ice cream but couldn't ring you out. Thank you for driving this far. They didn't know that an hour before, we were up to our knees in water."
