After days of laying down sandbags and pumping out basements, residents along the southern shore of Lake Ontario are bracing for more flooding in the next couple of days.
Communities in western Monroe County are expected to bear the brunt of northeasterly winds that send waves rolling in off the lake. Meteorologist Josh Nichols expects the winds to shift from the east to the northeast around 2 p.m. Friday and into early Friday evening.
"And if it's anything like last Sunday or worse, it's gonna be a huge problem," said Parma town supervisor James Smith. "A lot of our residents are putting the sandbags literally around their houses because the water comes over the breakwall sometimes in five or six foot waves and it just runs right across their property."
Smith said he has seen flooding as far as two or three miles away from the lakeshore.
"Our building director is working with the emergency folks from the Hilton Fire Department about plans because they're anticipating that they may have to close some roads this weekend."
There are about 100 shoreline homes in Parma. They are not connected to sewer lines. Instead, they use leach fields. Smith is concerned about the long-term impacts the flooding could have on those drainage fields.
"Last weekend, I observed somebody's leach field that had two-and-a-half feet of water on top of it," Smith said. "They don't work when there's water on top of them. People are probably going to have to tear up their leach fields or do some kind of maintenance work on them in areas along the lakeshore.”
Parma residents who need sand or filled sandbags are asked to call the highway department at 392-9464 or the Parma town hall at 392-9461.
