WHEATFIELD, N.Y. — For over 40 years, Don MacSwan has worked for, or been elected to positions within the Town of Wheatfield government.
So you'd think he's seen it all.
"We had flooding in areas I've never seen a flood before," MacSwan said. "I was shocked, let's say, some of the areas of flooding."
Wheatfield wasn't the only municipality to experience flooding after several days of rain that ultimately melted snow and unjammed creeks.
However, residents of Eagle Chase Drive are frustrated that their neighborhood has continuously flooded, even during seemingly insignificant storms.
"Now we get an inch, inch and a half of rain, and we had flooding on the streets," said Jeffrey Napier, a resident on Eagle Chase Dr. "Then with a new development going on, it just gotten worse and worse."
Napier and other residents in the development want the town to install more culverts near the property that would drain into nearby ditches and creeks.
Wheatfield Town Supervisor Don MacSwan isn't opposed to adding infrastructure that makes sense, but also feels that the issue is widespread across the region.
"I had water in my basement for the first time just because my sump pump couldn't handle it.," MacSwan said. "[It's] something we're going to look at and see what we can do to make things better."
MacSwan highlighted two things that he and wants to address with the town board -- a more aggressive approach to cleaning ditches and examining the town's development rules and guidelines.
"Maybe making it a little more stringent to develop in Wheatfield, to be more cautious when it comes to drainage," MacSwan said "Hopefully, we can do some review of some of these areas that are prone to flooding and make some improvements."
MacSwan told 2 On Your Side that he is setting up a meeting with other town supervisors in Niagara County so they can collectively address flooding issues as a group -- rather than individual municipalities.