During a weekend typically marked by scorching hot weather and fireworks displays, some Butler County residents found themselves in miserable conditions — again — as their streets were flooded during torrential downpours.

This past Independence Day weekend, residents along Butler’s West Brady Street and Sullivan Run, and some residents in Bruin faced serious damage to their homes and hours of cleaning up following heavy rainstorms that drenched the county.

On Saturday, some parts of the county received about 1.10 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service, while sections of northern Butler — especially Slippery Rock and West Liberty — saw up to 1.5 inches of rain between early Sunday and early Monday morning.

Dannielle Bland, a West Brady Street resident who had to clean out her flooded basement on Saturday, said that drains on the street are filled with rocks, and there are no proper grates. Like many other residents on the street, she wonders why something more cannot be done to prevent flooding.

On Sunday, residents near Sullivan Run spent the weekend clearing out muddy water. Resident Natalie Franko said she has heard years of promises — from the Army Corps of Engineers to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection — to alleviate flooding. But it hasn’t happened.

Over in Bruin, other residents contended with severe damage to their homes from the rainstorm, and some were forced to seek temporary shelter at the local fire department.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Bland said of the situation. And in some ways, she’s right — there’s little that residents can do. Many of them have been forced to live with these conditions for years. Currently, there’s no solution, which doesn’t make anyone suffering through this situation multiple times per year feel any better.

That being said, state legislators and local governments should explore all options. Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled state Legislature might disagree on how to fund initiatives to combat the region’s flooding, but they’re in agreement that it needs to be addressed.

Butler was not among the 14 counties chosen when, in April, the governor announced a $69 million investment in state wastewater and stormwater projects, despite the county being a ranking producer of the Marcellus Shale gas that would fund the governor’s proposed severance tax.

Thankfully, in the meantime, Butler community groups are stepping up to lend a hand to residents inconvenienced by flooding. Some churches have helped clean out flooded basements, while volunteers with Bruin’s fire department have been checking on elderly residents and offering them rides to the department’s shelter.

But local organizations cannot solve this problem alone. They need help at the state level, so we urge lawmakers to recognize that this issue is currently the most pressing for many Butler residents, and to take action accordingly.