The water of Tonawanda Creek is slowly going down today after causing widespread flooding Tuesday throughout parts of northern Amherst, Clarence, Newstead and portions of southern Niagara County.
Tonawanda Creek was well over the 12-foot flood stage when it crested at 15.13 feet Tuesday afternoon, bringing what the National Weather Service called “moderate flooding.”
“There’s a lot of water in the North Country,” said James Dussing, superintendent of highways in Clarence. “North of County Road, pretty much every road is affected in some fashion.”
Dussing’s highway crews had their hands full Tuesday.
Workers delivered sandbags to residents, set up barricades to prevent cars from traveling along washed-out roads and fielded phone calls from residents looking for alternative routes through town.
The situation Tuesday was different than the flooding created by last weekend’s storm that brought the rain and resulted in melting snow, Dussing said.
“This is a totally different type of flooding,” he said. “On Sunday, it was localized. This is widespread flooding. This covers a huge area.”
The flood warning issued for Tonawanda Creek at Rapids was expected to remain in effect until today, but the water was slowly starting to drop, said meteorologist Aaron Reynolds.
“It will drop considerably during the overnight hours and into Thursday,” Reynolds said Tuesday, “but it will take several hours and possibly all day Thursday.”
Meanwhile, the forecast shows a chance of scattered snow showers around the area today and Thursday with high temperatures in the 20s over the next few days.
In fact, the region is in for a cold spell, with high temperatures in the teens by early next week.
email: jrey@buffnews.com
Tonawanda Creek was well over the 12-foot flood stage when it crested at 15.13 feet Tuesday afternoon, bringing what the National Weather Service called “moderate flooding.”
“There’s a lot of water in the North Country,” said James Dussing, superintendent of highways in Clarence. “North of County Road, pretty much every road is affected in some fashion.”
Dussing’s highway crews had their hands full Tuesday.
Workers delivered sandbags to residents, set up barricades to prevent cars from traveling along washed-out roads and fielded phone calls from residents looking for alternative routes through town.
The situation Tuesday was different than the flooding created by last weekend’s storm that brought the rain and resulted in melting snow, Dussing said.
“This is a totally different type of flooding,” he said. “On Sunday, it was localized. This is widespread flooding. This covers a huge area.”
The flood warning issued for Tonawanda Creek at Rapids was expected to remain in effect until today, but the water was slowly starting to drop, said meteorologist Aaron Reynolds.
“It will drop considerably during the overnight hours and into Thursday,” Reynolds said Tuesday, “but it will take several hours and possibly all day Thursday.”
Meanwhile, the forecast shows a chance of scattered snow showers around the area today and Thursday with high temperatures in the 20s over the next few days.
In fact, the region is in for a cold spell, with high temperatures in the teens by early next week.
email: jrey@buffnews.com