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(Editor’s note: Rob Creenan’s writing for the Gazette about the rainstorm the other night escaped the paywall and was published by Yahoo. Here is his reporting.)
By Robert Creenan
Niagara Gazette
With heavy rainstorms and flash floods happening across New York state this week, Lewiston was again the scene of residents' basements and backyards filled with water.
A reported 5.12 inches of rain fell over a 4-hour period Monday night across the whole town, overwhelming its drainage systems and causing standing water in roadways. Residents posted photos and videos of standing water in their yards and basements from the rainfall on Facebook and demanded that the town improve its drainage systems.
"In my 25 years with the town, never has it rained like that," said Jeff Ritter, the administrator for the Lewiston Water Pollution Control Center. Crews have been constantly working to drain the water, having had 40 to 50 people call for help as of Wednesday morning, with at least 30 basements flooded.
The storm system that went through New York state this week has caused flooding in most areas it passed through, from St. Catherines, Ontario to New York City.
Flash flood warnings were still in place Wednesday for eastern and southeastern parts of the state, with the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire also under flood watches through Wednesday evening.
Town Supervisor Steve Broderick put out a statement Tuesday asking residents to remain patient as crews work on the large number of requests in affected areas. It also notes their sewer and highway departments had been working since 1 a.m. that day.
"It doesn't matter what the town does with its sewer," Ritter said. "If there's five inches of rain, you're gonna get inundated with water."
Lewiston has dealt with widespread flooding events the past three years, as they have dealt with three "hundred-year storms" in that time. In particular, residents from the Morgan Drive neighborhood demanded in the summer of 2024 that, after three flooding instances, their water infrastructure be improved.
In the time since, the town has worked to replace stormwater drains in impacted neighborhoods, with construction on new stormwater pipes on Morgan and Vrooman drives still ongoing.
There has been a backflow preventer grant program where the town would reimburse up to $2,000 toward the installation in place by September 2024, something which Ritter still wants people to sign up for if they had such chronic sewer issues. While not a fix-all solution, he argued this would help protect properties.
