ZELIENOPLE — The signs of flooding and heavy rain were still visible Tuesday morning after storms drenched the borough Monday evening.

Heavy rain pummeled the borough and surrounding areas Monday night, leading to basement flooding in homes and businesses. The National Weather Service says 1.5 to 2.5 inches of rain fell on southwestern Butler County in a little over an hour.

Many businesses remained closed Tuesday. Workers at those that were open, including the WesBanco bank on South Main Street, were seen cleaning up debris on the sidewalks.

A few streets on South High Street — where several reports of basement flooding were made Monday — mud caked a portion of the road, while crews on East Beaver Street were seen trimming trees away from power lines.

Pete Lachelli was one of the High Street residents to experience the flood.

“(My) basement flooded — almost everybody’s basement flooded,” he said. “I haven’t seen it like this since I was kid, and I was born and raised here.”

Lachelli said he had about a foot and a half of water in his basement before they had the chance to drain it.

“We sucked it all up (Tuesday) and now we have to bleach it,” he said. “Lot of tools are down there, pictures, Christmas stuff, clothes.”

According to a post on the borough’s Facebook page, Zelienople is taking steps to mitigate future flooding by targeting areas from where much of the water came.

“We recognize where the floodwaters originated and have plans to do stormwater retention ponds near Interstate 79 above the pool to assist in this situation,” it states. “The construction has been set to begin late summer early fall.”

The post indicates township officials would contact homeowners from the park to Main Street to request help in removing debris and allow for water to flow more freely. Storm drops were expected to be cleaned Tuesday, and the street sweeper was to be run, according to the post.

The borough thanked emergency responders for all their hard work and residents for doing their part and being patient as firefighters, police and road crews worked to restore power and traffic flow.

“Thank you as well for being so wonderful. You are why Zelie is such a great place to live,” the post read. “This is a time when people make a difference. You have all done so.”

According to information from the Harmony Fire District, 35 members — half of the district’s active roster — responded to 49 calls for service from 5:30 p.m. until just after midnight Tuesday.

“I think it went fairly well. We had a very impressive turnout from our membership,” said Harmony Fire Chief Scott Garing Tuesday morning. “We also called in our mutual aid from the SAFER group and Franklin Township, Portersville and Wurtemburg & Perry.”

This help, he said, was invaluable in addressing resident concerns quickly and effectively.

“Everything’s been taken care of emergency wise,” Garing said.

Many of Monday night’s calls were the result of torrents of water running through the streets and into basements. Others were for wires and trees falling in the area.

“The biggest problem we had (Monday) was the power went out, and when the power went out the sump pumps stopped working,” Garing said. “So that caused a lot of issues. Not all of them, but a lot of them.”

With water receded and roads cleared Tuesday afternoon, the borough, as well as the Harmony Fire District, had one last thing to do before calling it a day.

“We had our trucks in paradelike condition,” Garing said. “Now all 10 of them are not in paradelike condition.”

Remaining volunteers spent the day gussying up the fleet for Wednesday’s Fourth of July Parade. Despite the flooding, the parade was scheduled for 11 a.m., with fireworks at 9:45 p.m., according to a post by the borough.

J.W. Johnson Jr., Cranberry bureau chief, contributed to this report.