That was some cloudburst.

Butler County Emergency Services weather watchers tell us 3.5 inches of rain fell in Cranberry Township over a few hours’ time Tuesday night. In Sarver, 4.6 inches fell. Butler Area Sewer Authority reported 2.67 inches of rain at the sewer plant.

Consider the enormity of such rainfall. Just one inch of rain over an acre adds up to 27,154 gallons of water, over one square mile that’s 17,378,560 gallons — per inch of rain. Extreme rainfall, like the one in Sarver, can create 800 million gallons of water over a 10-square-mile area overnight.

The Connoquenessing Creek watershed — the surface area that’s drained into the creek — is 354 square miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The occasional massive rainfall like the one we experienced Tuesday deposits billions of gallons of water overnight across this 354-square-mile area.

The ground absorbs some of the water. Plant life soaks up water through its roots and returns it to the air as water vapor.

Glade Run and other man-made lakes retain and divert some of the water for consumption.

But the majority of the runoff leaves the watershed via the Connoquenessing. And severe rains always reveal the Connoquenessing’s chokepoint: where the creek bends and narrows between Harmony and Zelienople borough and Jackson Township.

In March, engineering consultant Herbert, Rowland and Grubic told Harmony council that it studied every suggested remedy for chronic flooding from the Connoquenessing Creek and can’t recommend any of them as a cost-effective long-term solution. The proposed solutions ranged widely in cost, from $5,000 to $30 million.

The council has not taken any official action since then to address potential flooding. But it’s not really the fault of the borough that it has no viable options. As Mayor Cathy Rape explained in a letter she sent Wednesday to state and federal emergency management officials, much of Harmony’s specific problem lies in the fact that vast sections of the watershed are literally being paved over, while floodplains are being backfilled and developed, leaving nowhere for rainwater runoff to go.

“Flooding is the most frequent natural disaster occurring in Pennsylvania. Many articles, government included, have stated flooding will only increase,” the mayor writes. “Common sense tells you that floodplain property is needed to help existing homes and insurance claims not to continually rise.

The scope of flooding is becoming increasingly regional. We are long past the point of practicality leaving individuals or municipals to their own devices trying to mitigate a 354-square-mile flooding issue.