SILVER CREEK - Officials are "cautiously optimistic" the village will avoid serious flooding. While there is a risk that it could happen, flooding is not imminent.
The creeks are flowing free. Crews have been working quickly to keep the paths of Silver Creek and Walnut Creek clear and to lower water levels.
"The county was able to clean the creek behind Rix (Place), Oliver (Place) and Dana (Place)," said Village Mayor Kurt Lindstrom, "and the water level dropped four or five feet."
The county, then, took their machinery to creek-area behind the former site of the Department of Public Works, and they successfully lowered the water level, according to Lindstrom.
Crews also cleaned-up the mouth of the creek, breaking up ice and easing the flow of water into Lake Erie.
Hanover Town Supervisor Katherine Tampio said Cattaraugus Creek also appears to show little likelihood of any flooding.
"Things are looking pretty good so far for Cattaraugus Creek, and the threat of flooding seems minimal at this point," Tampio said. "Things are flowing, and snow is melting slowly."
The weather has been working in Silver Creek's favor. It has been warm enough to melt the snow and ice, but not so warm that it melts too quickly. Also, sunny weather has held off the rain clouds, which are expected to come this weekend.
"We felt good about the way the weather went," Lindstrom said. "Had it rained all week or had it warmed up too quickly, we would have been a lot more worried. Fortunately, that did not happen."
The forecast for this weekend indicates the weather will not be quite as kind to the region. AccuWeather.com released a news forecast Thursday titled, "Bracing for Flooding in the Northeast."
Jim Noel, a service coordinator hydrologist from the National Weather Service Ohio River Forecast Office in Wilmington, Ohio, said flooding is likely across much of the Northeast.
"Flooding is expected this weekend into next week," Noel said about the entire region, in the AccuWeather.com news forecast. "However, it is the magnitude of the flooding that is still uncertain."
"The amount of rain and soil moisture are the usual concerns for flooding," the AccuWeater.com news forecast said.
It went on, "However, determining the degree of flooding in this situation has been made more complex due to the amount of water locked up in the remaining snow cover in many areas."
Specifically for Silver Creek, rain is forecast all weekend - today, Saturday and Sunday - according to AccuWeather.com. Meanwhile, the high temperatures over the weekend are expected to stay above 50 degrees, and low temperatures are not predicted to fall lower than 36 degrees.
"The rain tomorrow is not going to help, but I think we're 'cautiously optimistic,'" Lindstrom said.
There is no way to say for certain whether or not there will be any flooding.
"It really all depends on the kind of storm we're going to be looking at, coming in this weekend," Tampio said.
Regardless, officials have been encouraging residents to be prepared for flooding.
County Disaster Coordinator Julius Leone, at a recent flood prevention meeting, advised residents in often-flooded areas to build a kit of materials that they would need, in the event of an evacuation.
At the Hanover Town Board meeting Monday, Councilman Fritz Seegert recommended that everybody - not just residents of Hanover - register for NY-ALERT.
NY-ALERT is a web-based portal that allows governments to provide critical emergency information to a specific audience. Local governments use the tool to notify residents of emergencies. Individuals can sign up at www.nyalert.gov, or by calling 1-888-697-6972.