The warmth of summer was washed away this weekend with more than 5 inches of rain coming down on most of Butler County over the last 72 hours — and cold weather accompanying it all.

The resulting flooding continued to wreak havoc in municipalities across the county as road closures and property flooding only began to abate Monday morning.

Throughout Sunday, emergency calls came in from all over related to the weather: horse stalls in Adams Township were reported to have filled with about a foot of water, people reported flooded basements, and the combination of steady rain and gusts of wind were felling trees, taking down power lines and blocking roads. Somewhere on Chicora Road, an electric fire defied the wet conditions.

West Penn Power reported on Monday that there were 579 customers in the county without power and Central Electric Cooperative registered 516 powerless customers, with Saxonburg taking the brunt of the loss. Both companies expected most of the power to be restored by Monday night.

“It's been a wet summer so things are pretty soupy and waterlogged out there,” said Todd Meyers, a spokesman for West Penn Power. “The rain has continued unabated and continued to evolve.”

Residents of Adams and Middlesex townships continued dealing with flooded roads and traffic restrictions, while Harmony and Zelienople residents were warned of water pouring over the banks of the Connoquenessing Creek. Water in the creek rose to 14 feet due to the storm, according to the Zelienople-Harmony Notification System.

Lana Klein, owner of the Wunderbar in Harmony, said water from the creek and from poor drainage systems in the borough brought floodwaters washing in from all directions.

“What happens is we have a bad drainage system through here,” she said. “We already had two feet of water before the creek was ... overflowing.”

Mercer Street, where many of the borough's businesses are located, had to be closed to traffic as well as Spring and German streets in Harmony and Jackson Township.

Josh Meeder, owner of Center of Harmony on Mercer Street, spent much of Monday morning fighting flooding in his properties in Harmony and helping friends in Zelienople.

“The drainage fills up the basement and backs up, kind of what's happening in Zelienople too,” he said. “I was pumping a friend's house in Zelienople at 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock this morning. The storm drains are either old or clogged or cracked so they can't take the water away, then the creek backs up.”

Volunteers from the surrounding fire departments spent the night racing from incident to incident, clearing roads, rescuing folks trapped by floods and helping out in any way they could.

“They were awake pretty much all night, running from flooded basement calls to rapidly rising waters,” said Scott Garing, Harmony Fire District chief. “It was bad.”

Calls came in all over the district, he said, but by morning they had subsided.

Flood plan

While area residents and officials continue to clean up after the storm, many have already begun thinking about how to mitigate the effects of flooding in the future.

“Butler County just agreed to do a survey up and down the Connoquenessing, sponsored by Zelienople and Harmony and Jackson Township,” Meeder said. “I'm hoping they can actually make something happen because we need relief here.”

The area has been dealing with flooding issues for years, he said.

In Zelienople, officials have begun planning a project that would direct flooding to a retention pond they plan to build at the community park.

Borough officials outlined the plan at a council meeting at the end of August.

The plan is to enforce a stream that naturally forms when floods pour into the park.

The borough will strengthen its banks and direct it to a retention pond where excess water will be collected and prevented from washing into town.

Borough manager Don Pepe said this should help slow the flooding, but in torrential storms it won't be able to stop it completely.

The project is expected to begin in September.

Be prepared

While these solutions are still in the works, officials are urging residents to be prepared for the next flood.

Mark Adomaitis, chief of Butler County's Water Rescue Team 300, said most problems can be avoided by staying vigilant and not taking any unnecessary risks.

“We preach and we preach and we preach: if that water is coming up, get out of the area; get out of your house,” he said. “Do not drive into any type of standing water. Especially, do not drive around those road closed signs.”

Following these rules can help people stay out of trouble, Adomaitis explained, and with weather reports warning of another potential storm, he said it's important to pay attention.

“This is all going to happen. Be vigilant next week if we get hit with another storm,” he said. “Now this ground is saturated, the water has nowhere to go.

“If we get hit with another storm it's going to be bad again.”

Mars Mayor Gregg Hartung had similar thoughts about looking to the next storm.

“At the council meeting (Monday), we're talking about a few potential storms that are possibly coming up the East Coast,” Hartung said. “We're concerned about not having enough of a break in between the two for water to recede before the next one hits.

“We could be facing heavier flooding if that does happen,” he said. “We had two storms back-to-back before, and that's where the problems start.”

Hartung said his borough was “very fortunate the rain let up” early Monday morning, but there were a few roads that were temporarily out of use from Sunday night into Monday morning, and he reported that one homeowner was pumping water out of a Hook Street house last night.

“We had high water in various places and had to put signs up for people not to travel on them,” he said.

All streets reopened by Monday afternoon, though, and Hartung said public works was removing some debris for “minimal cleanup” as there wasn't much road blockage due to the storm.

Public works personnel in Adams Township had a similar experience with facing less damage than expected, according to Gary Peaco, township manager.

“We had a few trees down,” he said. “Fortunately, the wind wasn't too bad. We were pretty good with power outages around here, too.”

Peaco said there were about three or four locations they didn't want people to cross through due to rising water concerns. He said public works was out for about six hours Sunday and then again early Monday morning to clear anything that may have been missed.

“Our road department has been doing this for quite a few years, so they're used to it,” he said. “The biggest concern is making sure roads are passable for emergency services and school buses.”

Peaco said they received a few calls for flooded basements, but the damage “wasn't nearly as bad as 2004 when Hurricane Ivan came through.”

“We had to close some roads for a short period of time,” Peaco said, “but really it could have been a lot worse.”

As with other areas in Butler County, Peaco said his team is “keeping an eye out” for any more potential storms that could cause delays or obstructions in his township.

Caleb Harshberger, Eric Jankiewicz and Alexandria Mansfield contributed to this report.