WHEATFIELD, N.Y. — As rain fell in Niagara County, snow melted and the creeks jammed up with ice and debris.
According to Niagara County emergency management director Jonathan Schultz, there were multiple rescues on flooded roads that morning commuters thought they could traverse.
"Unfortunately a lot of people didn't pay attention earlier today with the waters we wound up having a lot of motorists driving into some of the waterways and finding out the waters much deeper than they had found out and wound up in some of the ditches and streams," Schultz said.
"We had to perform some rescues and get those people to safety to make sure they were OK."
Schultz says that they received dozens of phone calls about flooded basements across the county, and that kept DPW crews and volunteer fire departments busy all afternoon.
One area that dealt with considerable flooding Friday morning was Eagle Chase Drive in Sanborn.
Parts of the neighborhood were under feet of water, and numerous houses experienced flooded basements.
However, residents tell 2 On Your Side that while they understand the significance of the recent snow and rainfall, they aren't surprised their by the flooding because it happens often.
"Three to four times probably every year, we have this issue that goes on," Jeffrey Napier said.
Napier has lived on Eagle Chase Drive for nearly 15 years.
"We get an inch, inch and a half of rain, and we had flooding on the streets," Napier said. "Then with a new development going on, it just got worse and worse."
Napier and another Eagle Chase Drive resident who wished to remain anonymous told 2 On Your Side that residents of the development have tried to resolve the ongoing issue with the Town of Wheatfield supervisor, the development company, and engineering firm that is contracted by the town.
Town officials have told residents that farmlands drain into a culvert adjacent to the development but hasn't been maintained for several years.
2 On Your Side reached out to the town supervisor to learn more about any potential issues, but the supervisor was unavailable.
"Ultimately the answer that I did receive was that it was going to be based on cost, the builder didn't want to face the cost," one resident said. "The town ultimately is refusing to pay for it as well."
Most of the water had receded along the roadway of Eagle Chase Drive by nightfall, but several yards still had visible standing water.
Elsewhere in Niagara County, several roads remained closed into the evening hours as waters slowed receded, but still covered roads.
Plank Road in Lockport was closed all afternoon and evening. One resident on the street told 2 On Your Side that it would never flood, even in the heaviest rain storms. But the resident said that state and federal agencies recently conducted work nearby and now the roadway routinely floods.
Emergency Management Director Schultz said there were several neighborhoods in Lewiston and Wheatfield that his team was planning on monitoring over the weekend.
Schultz believes, however, that much of the flooding will subside unless the county receives more rainfall.