WEST SENECA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Next steps to address an issue familiar to West Seneca residents were proposed again at a public meeting.
Flooding from the Buffalo River has been a headache for decades.
A public meeting regarding the second phase of the Buffalo Creek reconnection project was held Friday night.
For more than two years, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper (BNW) and the town have been studying the creek looking for flood mitigation opportunities.
With the protection of his own property as his first priority, 7 News’ Pheben Kassahun traveled to the meeting to find out about the next steps in the mitigation process and heard the experiences of two neighbors who live along the creek.
The $500,000 design was discussed during the second design phase of the Buffalo Creek Floodplain Reconnection Project.
The project is funded by the National Coastal Resiliency Fund.
BNW and the Town of West Seneca are sponsors of the project.
“Floodplains are a natural solution to mitigating flooding by expanding the area where water can flow and directing water into the floodplain instead of into nearby homes,” said Katherine Winkler, senior program manager with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper.
The presentation included BNW’s plans for creating this nature-based solution.
The Buffalo Creek project site within the town is upstream from where the creek connects with the Buffalo River.
The region has long experienced flood damage and destruction caused by rapid snowmelt, heavy rains and ice jams.
Since the 1920s, the town of West Seneca’s population has grown by nearly 500 percent, eliminating important floodplains along the river that would capture water during floods.
“Once it’s built, all we have to do is lower the banks, level the land and add the vegetation needed to slow the water flow and provide habitat. It’s one of those projects that doesn’t require any maintenance,” Winkler added.
Neighborhood residents were also able to have their say on the design.
West Seneca Superintendent Gary Dixon was also in attendance.
For years, that burden has fallen on the West Seneca community and its Buffalo Creek neighbors, particularly Michael Macnica, who lives in the Lexington Green neighborhood.
“We had a big flood two years ago, with 10 inches of water in the back barn and several feet under the back porch,” Michael Macnica said. “It’s really encouraging to see so many people come out and voice their opinions.”
Evelyn Hicks said water overflowed the banks on both sides of the creek during the ice jam flooding.
“The flooding is reaching our neighborhoods. People are being evacuated from their homes and there’s been a lot of property damage because we’re seeing these historic floods so frequently,” West Seneca resident Evelyn Hicks said.
She told Kassahun that the project will improve her quality of life and that of her neighbors.
“In West Seneca, it’s really impossible to get from point A to point B without crossing a bridge. There are a lot of streams in the area and a lot of water,” Hicks said.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2025.
This will be followed by a year-long establishment period to ensure everything grows and there is no significant soil runoff.
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