Clay, N.Y. — People watched as knee to waist deep water started to rise in a Clay neighborhood Monday, some taking to the streets to check it out.
A video shared with Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard shows just how much water overtook one townhouse complex off Soule Road in Clay.
Four to seven inches of rain fell on the Clay and Liverpool area within 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. Monday’s storms set a rainfall record in Syracuse. That’s more than two months worth of rain for the area.
Water stranded cars, flooded homes and closed roads. Firefighters and police responded to more than 100 calls. In Clay, the roof of the Great Northern Mall collapsed under the weight of the water.
In the video, people are splashing through the already knee-deep water. Some people wore rain coats as they made their way through the water.
Water reached all the way up to driveways and garages, submerging cars halfway in the water.
Other vehicles attempted to drive through the water. Some were successful while others became disabled.
One man kayaked while holding an umbrella above his head. Others paddle boarded.
Some people choose to watch from porches and windows inside homes as the streets filled and water quickly spilled into houses.
Robert Yourdon, of Liverpool, who shared part of the video, said the water began pouring into the streets around 8 p.m., quickly rising between then and 10 p.m. Monday. A sump pump helped keep water out of Yourdon’s home, but he was concerned for his neighbors, he said.
An Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office deputy drove into the neighborhood but couldn’t get deeper into the water without stalling his vehicle, Yourdon said. That’s when Yourdon and a couple of other people grabbed their paddle boards to check on people.
They rowed through the townhomes on Shallowcreek Road and Burningtree Road to see if anyone was stranded inside vehicles disabled in the flood water.
Everyone was safe, he said, but many basements were flooded,…
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