West Seneca, N.Y. (WBEN) - More than 80 inches of snow fell in West Seneca last week over the course of 5-6 days that caused several travel problems and extensive cleanout efforts in the days that followed.
However, there is a new concern among town officials in the coming days ahead: Rising temperatures and rain causing the snow to melt and water levels in West Seneca to rise.
A Flood Watch will go into effect starting Thursday afternoon and extending through Saturday morning for a portion of Western New York, including Chautauqua County, as well as both Northern Erie and Southern Erie County. Forecasters are calling for the potential of flooding caused by rain and snowmelt, with the potential for ice jams to occur as well.
Temperatures in West Seneca over the next several days will see highs flutter in the low-to-mid 40s.
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Officials in West Seneca have continued to work closely with City of Buffalo officials, as flooding in the town is not at all uncommon. Crews, including the town's emergency manager, highway department, sewer department, police and fire departments have been out looking, specifically, Buffalo Creek over the last few days.
"Buffalo Creek has some spots of clear water, but other spots where it's covered with snow," said Gary Dickson, West Seneca Town Supervisor on Wednesday. "I'm told by the National Weather Service that the ice has only been forming for a week or so, so it's probably not that thick. But many places there is a snowpack on it, so as the rain comes down, it'll just stick to the snowpack and eventually that will break up, melt or whatever so then we'll get a rise in the creek level, in addition to the water that comes down from Elma and further upstream."
Dickson says there will be someone up throughout the night monitoring the Buffalo Creek, as well as Cazenovia and Cayuga Creeks, watching if any potential ice jams form.
"The ice isn't as thick as it has been when we've had really large ice jam situations, and it's ice jamming that's the problem," Dickson said. "If the water just flows freely, it's not a huge deal. It's when you get very thick ice that breaks up and jams, and forms kind of a temporary dam, then all the water builds up behind it. This can happen very quickly, and it can cause flooding. As quickly as the ice jams can form, they can also break up, so it's a very dynamic process."
According to West Seneca Police Cpt. Jim Unger, Buffalo Creek appears to be in better shape than originally anticipated, but adds it's always better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best anytime there's flooding concerns.
"I know we are regularly doing creek monitoring, our team was out throughout the night, overnight and into this morning, checking on ice levels and snowpack. We're hopeful that with a slow thaw and relatively light precipitation, we'll get through this, hopefully, with no problems," said Cpt. Unger on Wednesday.
Where the flooding tends to get significantly bad, especially in the case of ice jams on the Buffalo Creek, is the Lexington Green neighborhood in West Seneca. A berm is in place that was recently rebuilt, where it helps keeps the water from flooding the neighborhood. However, Dickson says never count out the power of Mother Nature.
"We work with Buffalo, Buffalo, I believe, is going to have the [Edward M] Cotter out, the boat, breaking up the ice. If the ice is thick, there will be probably people cutting holes in the ice to kind of encourage it to break up. We'll see," he said. "As I said, we'll have people all night who will be out watching and monitoring. If we have to help people evacuate or something, we absolutely will."
Officials says their main area of focus when it comes to flooding on the Buffalo Creek, especially during ice jams, is everywhere West of Union Road all the way out to the city line. That can be attributed to the way the creek bends in some locations, as well as the topography of the area.
Dickson admits he doesn't want to get complacent with the current outlook along the Buffalo Creek, but says he has seen worse, especially when comparing this forecast compared to ice jams in 2022.
On top of the rebuilt berm at Lexington Green, Dickson says there are other measures being taken to try and cut back some flooding issues in the long-term scope.
"We're also working with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper to study the area across the creek from there to see if that can be used to create, what they call, a flood bench, which is kind of a flat piece of land that when the water rises, it floods that area, thus keeping the overall increase in the floodwaters down," he said. "Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper finished a preliminary study, we're hopeful they're going to get more federal money for a design study, and then we'll move on from there."
So what's the message for residents who are all too familiar with the potential for flooding in West Seneca? Both Dickson and Unger say stay vigilant and monitor your area.
"We will have some sandbags available at the highway department if residents are in need of sandbags. If we get to the point where we need to, our highway department will have extra pumps that are going to be deployed to those neighborhoods that traditionally see the highest levels of flooding concerns," Cpt. Unger said. "We will be monitoring, please monitor yourself. If you see something, please call 9-1-1, and then stay tuned to local media, social media. If we see some flooding potentials, we will be putting out emergency messages through our code red system."
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