West Seneca creeks still below flood stage, town taking flooding precautions
WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WIVB) — A flood watch remains for Erie County through Saturday and that means cities, towns and villages along rivers, creeks and streams are standing ready in case there are ice jams that cause flooding.
That includes the town of West Seneca, which is watching the Buffalo and Cazenovia Creeks. The town says it hasn’t had any flooding so far, but it is taking extra precautions in case the water level starts to rise.
One area that tends to deal with creek overflow is the neighborhood around West Willowdale Drive, which sits along Cazenovia Creek. The town installed generators and pumps to keep water out of the sewer system and out of neighbors’ homes.
This area has seen major water back-ups in the sewer system before. The town is also going through a major sewer system project to put an end to the problem.
On Wednesday night, Cazenovia Creek had an ice jam as the water flowed from Elma and East Aurora to West Seneca and Buffalo. Fortunately, there wasn’t any major flooding or property damage.
Buffalo DPW: Cazenovia Creek ice field flowing from East Aurora and Elma
“[Town departments] were monitoring the creek along with an engineer from Buffalo, who’s an expert on these things,” Supervisor Gary Dickson said. “I was out at 10 o’clock at night driving around. I bumped into the emergency manager, the police, and our highway superintendent… We’re in a watching mode.”
Last week West Seneca was pummeled with snow and accumulated five feet in some areas. Now, that snow is melting, creating excess ground water, meaning residents in low lying areas should take extra precaution.
Mike Banko has lived in the Willowdale neighborhood for 31 years and says the last time his home experienced a major problem was in 2006 after the major ice storm. His sump pump was running for days, keeping excess water out of his home. After that storm, he prepared his basement in case it ever happens again.
“We got everything up off the floor in the basement we have everything on shelves or whatever. The furnace, washer and dryer so hopefully that won’t get soaked,” Banko said. “My sump pump hasn’t been running yet so it hasn’t filtered down there. Everything’s been fine so far other than my window leaking. With the ice dams we had, I suppose it could have been a lot worse.”
Flood watch issued in Erie, Chautauqua counties
News 4 also drove through the Lexington Green neighborhood near Harlem Road, which is known for flooding. Buffalo Creek was still within its banks, but as a precaution, town crews were putting out pumps and generators in case there is any flooding.
So far, both creeks are at a normal level and there have been no flood reports in the twon.
“The creek level has been reasonable. It’s certainly below well below flood stage for the most part. The snow does add a little bit of extra moisture because with the rain,” Supervisor Dickson said.
Supervisor Dickson says if you see flooding in your backyard, call 911 or the West Seneca Police non-emergency dispatch number: 716-674-2280.
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Tara Lynch is a Buffalo native and Emmy-nominated reporter who joined the News 4 team in 2022. She previously worked at WETM in Elmira, N.Y., a sister station of News 4. You can follow Tara on Facebook and Twitter and find more of her work here.
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