Babbling brooks were nowhere to be found after a weekend-long rain engorged waterways that crisscross Butler County.

As much as 6 inches of rain had fallen in the county by the end of Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.

Through it all, Butler County's Water Rescue Team 300 responded to dozens of calls beginning Sunday afternoon and continuing to the break of dawn Monday.

One of those rescues turned out to be for the birds, literally.

The initial rescue call came in at about 2 p.m. Sunday for a woman trapped in her vehicle in water on Sandy Hill Road in Middlesex Township.

“There was about 10 inches of water where she was at,” said Mark Adomaitis, who heads Team 300. “We were able to walk to her and get her out.”

An inflatable boat was used about 12:15 a.m. Monday to rescue three people stranded by flooded Breakneck Creek around their home on Twin Lakes Drive off Textor School Road in Jackson Township.

“The house was surrounded by about 4 feet of water,” Adomaitis said.

Along with the couple who lives there and their adult son, rescuers ended up saving a dog and a pandemonium of parrots.

“They stayed behind for the birds,” Adomaitis said of the occupants, apparently because they didn't have anyplace to take them.

“We put a boat in the water and paddled out and got them,” Adomaitis said. “We took mom and son first. Mom also was holding onto a little dog.

“We then went for father, and the birds.”

But before making the second trip to the house, rescuers had to wait for a friend of the family to gather up enough cages for the birds.

Authorities said neighbors had long since left their homes, seeing the rising Connoquenessing Creek waters.

“They were the smart ones,” Adomaitis said, “They had evacuated hours earlier.”

He said some of the neighbors even tried to convince the family that needed rescued to leave.

Team 300 members were soon called out again, this time shortly after 1 a.m., for a motorist trapped in water on Glenwood Way near Route 38 in Center Township.

And at around 5:40 a.m. Monday, the team was again dispatched for another vehicle-related rescue on Route 38 near Vin & Joe's Inn in Summit Township.

“Two people drove into floodwaters and we had to get them out,” Adomaitis said. The road near the Route 68 and Route 422 intersection was already closed to traffic at the time of the call.

The team was called again Monday shortly before 7 a.m. to help evacuate a patient at a nursing home on Evergreen Mill Road in Jackson Township, which had been cut off due to flooding.

Rescuers ended up taking an all-terrain vehicle on a back road to reach the home and rescue the patient.

Numerous roads were closed due to swollen creeks and streams. Flooded basements and downed trees and wires also were keeping volunteer firefighters, street departments and utility crews busy.

Officials warned residents about driving through standing water and to take heed to road closures.

PennDOT closed a section of Route 268 that runs between Route 68 in Fairview Township and Route 38 in Emlenton. It also closed Route 3028 between Route 528 and Seneca School Road and a third closure took place on Route 38 at the Hohn Farm Road intersection in Oakland Township.

By 7:15 a.m. Monday, Connoquenessing Creek at Zelienople was already more than 4 feet over flood stage, according to the National Weather Service's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service in Pittsburgh.

“We're downgrading the flooding concern,” said Steve Bicehouse, Butler County's emergency management director at about 9:15 a.m. “The water is starting to recede and we're not seeing any water rescues now. “I think we skirted this. I think we got lucky.”

Eagle staff writer Eric Jankiewicz contributed to this report.