A portion of E. Third Street in downtown Jamestown was temporarily flooded with water after a deluge of rain fell on the area just after 7 a.m. Thursday, June 20.

JAMESTOWN – The cleanup and recover continued Friday following a deluge of rain that swept across the region Thursday morning – resulting in widespread flooding, significant road damage, and at least one culvert being washed away in nearby Cattaraugus County.

The rain moved into the area shortly after 7 a.m. and continued to fall during the next few hours. At times it was a torrential downpour. One report said the area saw more than two inches of rain fall in just a couple hours, while another report we received said nearly an inch-and-a-half fell between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m.

That much rain in a short period of time lead to flooding in low lying areas, including across the city of Jamestown in areas of Fluvanna Ave., Harrison Streeet and Jones & Gifford Avenue – which was closed for a few hours because of water crossing the roadway.

In addition, a stretch of Route 394 in Lakewood was so flooded that the county was forced to close the roadway – inconveniencing motorists throughout the day.

Flooded creeks were also reported in Warren County, where in Russell several homes saw significant damage due to high water levels. A family in Pittsfield also report that their small dog was washed away by the waters and they are still searching for it.

In nearby Cattaruagus County, a state of emergency has been declared in South Valley due to flash flooding that left a portion of a road and a culvert washed away.

The flooding washed away a culvert on Burch Drive near Sawmill Run Road, about 10 miles east of Frewsburg.

(Image from www.theSummerwind.com)

CELORON – The Post-Journal says an iconic vessel of Chautauqua Lake will need repairs before the start of the season later this month.

The Summer Wind sustained damage Saturday from a strong thunderstorm that swept across the region. It was docked in Celoron and the strong winds reportedly sheared-off the roof of the upper deck.

A spokesperson for the boat said repairs would be made as quickly as possible and it should be back in operation by the start of the normal season.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a Winter Storm Warning for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties, running from 8 p.m. Monday until 8 p.m. Wednesday. During that period, the area will see moderate to heavy snow at times, along with blowing snow.

Although the Highest amounts of snow will be expected along the lake shore region of the county, Jamestown is also expected to get its fair share of snow. For the county, accumulations of 1 to 3 inches are being predicted for Monday night; 3 to 5 inches for Tuesday during the day; 3 to 6 inches for Tuesday night; and 1 to 3 inches for Wednesday – leading to storm totals ranging anywhere between 9 to 17 inches.

Forecasters say the Heavy snow and blowing snow could produce very difficult driving conditions with very poor visibility and deep snow cover on roads. Motorists are urged to use caution and take their time getting to and from their destination.

NOR’EASTER TO HIT EASTERN NY

This week’s winter storm is also expected to create problems across the state. As a result, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday announced actions being taken to prepare and respond to the strong Nor’easter.  The New York State Emergency Operations Center will be activated beginning Monday night, and the Governor has also directed state agencies to be on heightened alert in advance of the storm and prepared to deploy personnel and state stockpile resources – including sandbags, generators and pumps – as needed.

The Nor’easter is predicted to bring over a foot of snow to the Capital Region, Mid-Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island regions. The latest forecasts anticipate blizzard like conditions in those regions of the state for the Tuesday morning commute, and commuters are urged to drive with caution.

The high wind warning began Wednesday morning and continued until 10 p.m. Wednesday night.

Outages were reported across the south county, with residents in the Village of Falconer experiencing an outage during the afternoon, along with other outages reported in Jamestown late Wednesday afternoon and into the early evening. Meanwhile, residents throughout the towns of Carroll, Busti, Harmony, and North Harmony dealt with outages well into Wednesday night. Smaller outages were also reported in the towns of Charlotte, Chautauqua, Ellery and Ellicott.

The wind may have been the strongest in the North County, where speeds of more than 50 mph were reported along the lake shore region, causing outages in both the Dunkirk and Fredonia area.

National Grid is reporting more than 75,000 customers across its service area of upstate New York are still without power this morning, including more than 1000 customers in southern Chautauqua County.

As strong as the winds were in Chautauqua County on Wednesday, they were even stronger in other areas of Western New York.

A likely result of the high winds, twelve cars of a CSX freight train derailed Wednesday afternoon in Batavia. The train was heading from Chicago to Montreal.

Forecasters say accumulations of up to 2 inches are expected for Wednesday, another 2 to 4 inches are expected for Wednesday night, with as much as 6 to 12 inches expected for Thursday and 4 to 7 inches predicted for Thursday night. Finally another 1 to 2 inches could fall on Friday. This will lead to total storm accumulations of 1 to 2 feet in the most persistent lake snow areas.

In addition to the snow, the national weather service has also issued a wind advisory from 10 a.m. Wednesday until 1 a.m. Thursday for all of Western New York. Winds will have speeds between 25 and 35 MPH, with gusts reaching has high as 50 MPH.

As a result of the snow and wind, visibility will be near zero with some whiteout conditions at times. This will create difficult travel conditions in some areas, with poor visibility and deep snow cover on roadways.

Motorists are advised to use caution and give themselves extra time to get to their destination.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo has issued a Lake Effect Snow Warning for Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties from 7 p.m. tonight until 7 a.m. on Friday.

According to forecasters, the area could see anywhere from 5 to 9 inches of snow tonight and into Thursday morning, with an additional 3 to 6 inches predicted for Thursday and 2 to 4 inches for Thursday night into Friday morning. The overall snow totals for the most persistent Lake Snow areas is anywhere from 9 to 18 inches.

In addition to the snow, windy conditions are also expected, with wind speeds reaching 20 to 30 MPH and some gusts has high as 40 mph.

The wind will create blowing and drifting snow on some area roadways and, combined with the cold temperatures, it will also create a wind chill of 5 to 10 degrees below zero.

Residents and motorists are reminded that lake effect snow conditions can vary from locally heavy snow in narrow bands to clear skies just a few miles away. If you will be traveling across the region prepare for rapid changes in road and visibility conditions.

Accumulations of 4 to 8 inches Wednesday night, 3 to 5 inches Thursday, 1 to 2 inches Thursday night into Friday morning, leading to totals of 8 to 15 inches in the most persistent Lake Snows.

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BUFFALO – More snow could be on the way for Chautauqua County, including the city of Jamestown.

The national Weather Service has issued a Lake Effect Snow watch for Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Southern Erie Counties, which is in effect from Wednesday Night until late Thursday Night.

The National Weather Service says anywhere between 7 to 14 inches of snow could fall in the most persistent lake snows. In addition, winds will be blowing between 25 and 35 mph, with some gusts reaching 45 mph, producing significant blowing and drifting snow.

The watch is issued when there’s a likelihood of the snow system developing and moving into the area.

According to the warning, the locations that will be impacted include Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Wyoming, and Southern Erie Counties, with the greatest amount of snow expected to fall across the higher terrain of the Chautauqua Ridge.

Forecasts show that accumulations of 4 to 6 inches are expected for Thursday during the day with another 6 to 12 inches possible for Thursday night into Friday morning. For Friday, another 4 to 8 inches could fall during the day and 3 to 5 inches could also fall Friday night into Saturday morning. The total snow accumulations for the 48-hour period could be as much as 2 feet, if not more, in the most persistent lake snow areas.

Motorist should realize that heavy lake effect snow and areas of blowing snow will lead to significant accumulations of snow on area roadways and very poor visibility at times, resulting in hazardous to nearly impossible travel conditions within the most intense portion of the snow bands.

Motorists who must travel are advised to be prepared for severe winter driving conditions with near zero visibility and deep snow cover on the roads. This includes the New York State Thruway between the Pennsylvania State Line and Hamburg, along with the western-most portion of I-86.

Also motorists need to remember that with lake effect snow, the weather can vary from locally heavy snow in narrow bands to clear skies just a few miles away. If you will be traveling across the region, be prepared for rapid changes in road and visibility conditions. Motorists should also carry an emergency kit in their vehicle in the event they get stuck or stranded.

The national Weather service had a lake effect snow warning on Friday, saying that as much as 10-18 inches could fall between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning. However, only about 4 to 5 inches of snow covered the ground by Monday morning.

Still, the weather did cause some problems with several traffic accidents reported throughout the region. Some trees in the area also still had their leaves, causing the heavy snow to accumulate on branches and eventually snapping them – leading to trees falling on homes as well as disrupting electricity and cable service in some isolated areas.

The area will get a reprieve from further winter weather for the remainder of the week. The forecast for the rest of this week is calling for little additional snow, with temperatures rising to above freezing by Wednesday and on into Thanksgiving Day, as well as Black Friday.

Late in the afternoon the national weather service issued a flash flood warning, and at about 5:30 p.m. a strong thunderstorm moved across the area dropping a significant amount of rain in a very short period of time.

An image from Facebook shows the effects of the downpour on Aug. 10, 2016, which lead to torrents of water rushing through much of downtown Jamestown, including at Jamestown High School. (image publicly shared by T. Miceli, Facebook)

As a result flash flooding took place on several streets and low-lying area, including areas of downtown, the north side of the city, and over in Lakewood at the Chautauqua Mall.

According to the Post Journal, the storm resulted in at last two cars being swept up with the  current. One was in Jamestown on W. Eighth St., where first responders had to wade through the waters to retrieve a female driver and two children in a car that had been caught up in the flooded roadway. No one was injured and that area of Eighth street was closed until the water subsided.

Meanwhile a car was also swept away at the Chautauqua Mall parking lot near Sears, with the driver being stranded inside her vehicle in about 2 feet of water.

The flash-flood warning was in effect for the area until 8:30 p.m.

The forecast is also calling for a good chance of rain at least every day for the rest of this week, including Thursday.