Flooding affected the Lexington Green neighborhood of West Seneca. Buffalo Creek began overflowing its banks during the 5:00 hour Friday afternoon. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has shared a photo showing a pay loader making its way through a flooded street. He was at the scene with a county mobile command unit.
West Seneca Town Supervisor Sheila Meegan also monitored the situation. She is sympathizing with neighborhood residents for their "heartache." In January, a number of homes in Lexington Green were inundated with water, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Many homeowners were still recovering from that flood when this latest flooding occurred.
An ice jam in Buffalo Creek near Harlem Road caused the waters to rise. But the jam broke up within an hour, and flood waters receded.
Town highway crews and volunteer firefighters are assisting affected homeowners with pumps and sand bags.
Chautauqua County emergency officials reported an ice jam caused flooding on Allegheny Road in Sunset Bay at the mouth of Cattaraugus Creek.
Flood warnings have been discontinued for Cazenovia and Cayuga Creeks. Both were receding below their respective flood stages Friday evening.
Meanwhile, the high wind warning has been downgraded to a wind advisory for all of Western New York through 7:00 Saturday night. The wind gusts of 60 miles per hour never materialized during this storm. A peak gust of 39 was recorded Friday morning at the airport weather station. But it will remain windy with strong gusts into Saturday.
Officially, 1.66 inches of rain fell from Thursday afternoon through Friday morning.
A high temperature of 49 degrees was reported early Friday morning before the mercury fell back into the mid 30s.