Weather: Ice jams flood creeks, homes in Oneida County

As warm temperatures dropped into the 20s Friday morning, forecasters warned of icy roads as Thursday's rain, snowmelt and flooding led to further delays.

The National Weather Service issued a special weather statement Friday morning for Madison and southern Oneida counties warning Thursday's rainfall could turn into patches of black ice during morning commutes. A flood watch issued Thursday for Madison, Oneida and Herkimer counties also remains in effect through this evening.

Prior coverage: Flood watch issued as rain, snowmelt expected for Mohawk Valley

Local weather impacts: Skiing closed at Val Bialas, but other activities available

Forecasters warned increasing temperatures causing significant snowmelt as well as rainfall could lead to flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and low-lying and flood-prone areas. Rising waters in streams and rivers also could lead to ice breakup and ice jams.

In the village of Barneveld, a voluntary evacuation was issued around 5 a.m. Friday along Boon Street after ice jams on the Cincinnati Creek caused the waters to rise and flood homes. It was lifted Friday afternoon.

Barneveld Fire Chief Kevin Kalk said all residents chose to stay in their homes to monitor their sump pumps and furnaces. He said between 15 and 20 homes were impacted, with some basements filling up with 5 to 6 feet of water.

"We have had ice jams before, but nothing to this magnitude," he said.

As of Friday afternoon, the water was receding, Kalk said. Firefighters from Barneveld and Holland Patent are currently working to help residents pump cellars, he said.

The village fire department and Town of Trenton Highway Department worked to dislodge the ice jam, Kalk said. No injuries or outages have been reported at this time.

Road closures due to flooding were reported in Kirkland and Oriskany by the New York State Department of Transportation, including portions of Route 5 in Kirkland and River Street in Oriskany.

In the village of Whitesboro, an area that has seen severe flooding in the past, Mayor Robert Friedlander said joint efforts between the villages of Whitesboro and Yorkville, Oneida County, New York State and CSX corporation to break up ice jams in the Sauquoit Creek helped prevent flooding Thursday and Friday.

"Fortunately we had no flooding that I’m aware of," he said.

Closures and delays

The weather and subsequent flooding have led to so several schools operating on delayed schedules Friday.

The Whitesboro Central School District announced on its website a two-hour delay was in effect while middle school and Parkway School students would have a remote learning day, also operating on the delayed schedule. The Oriskany Central School District announced it was closed Friday.

The following school districts were operating on two-hour delays:

• Utica City School District

• Camden Central School District

• Central Square Central School District

• Clinton Central School District

• Holland Patent Central School District

• Madison Central School District

• New Hartford Central School District

• Remsen Central School District

• Town of Webb Union Free School District

• Westmoreland Central School District

H. Rose Schneider covers public safety, breaking and trending news for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Rose at hschneider@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Weather: Ice jams flood creeks, homes in Barneveld