BUFFALO, N.Y. — 2 On Your Side spent the day Thursday in West Seneca, checking on rising water levels at Buffalo Creek and Cayuga Creek.
Ice was jammed thick there. However, the water level continued to rise on Thursday night, causing issues across the Buffalo area.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz took to Twitter on Thursday night, urging people to avoid dangerous areas across Buffalo and the county.
Poloncarz said the "Buffalo River flooding is occurring near Electric Avenue and Casimer Street at the Buffalo/West Seneca border, requiring removal of residents, and there is concern at the Lexington Green neighborhood in (West Seneca)."
The Erie County Department of Public Works asked residents to avoid the Mineral Springs and Lexington Green areas, citing high water levels.
Route 5 has also been closed in both directions between Beach Road and Sturgeon Point Road in the Town of Evans because of flooding.
At around the same time, Route 20A was closed on both directions between Hamlin Avenue and Center Street in East Aurora because of flooding.
Earlier in the day, in Buffalo along Cazenovia Creek, we found ice jams that would occasionally move, only to stop again.
When that happened you could see the water quickly spilling over the bank and into nearby Cazanovia Creek Park.
A warning had been issued on Thursday morning for Silver Creek, advising residents they may to evacuate due to an ice jam. They didn't have to, though, when the jam broke up and the water flowed through.
Over near Cattaraugus Creek Harbor, there's a spot popular among locals who say it's a good place get a barometer of what might be coming.
"One of my staffers kind of described it as trying to rock your car out of snow snow, and I think that was a good description of how it comes and goes a little bit," according to Michael Finn, who is the Department of Public Works commissioner for the City of Buffalo.
While this is delightful to the ducks, it keeps city officials on their toes, observing, and getting ready to warn residents if it looks like danger.
Although he admits that outside of looking on like everyone else, there's really nothing they can do to stop any flooding once it starts.
"It is certainly is a force of nature and something that's physically, in terms of doing something, especially in the action, it's unsafe," Finn said. "We can't be out in the rivers and doing things while it's actually moving."