CHEEKTOWGA, N.Y. — Tara Bukowski woke up around 3:45 a.m. Saturday and went outside to smoke a cigarette.

Her neighborhood was flooded, and she scrambled to save items in her basement. Many of the belongings there, including her wedding dress, were ruined.

"Two of my neighbors and I sat on my front lawn and cried as I was cutting pieces off to save for my kids for when they get married. That was really hard," Bukowski said.

Bukowski lost her wedding photos and baby pictures of her daughter, but was able to salvage her son's baby book and another prized memento.

"My first child was stillborn. Her quilt was floating in a tote that luckily I was able to salvage because I think that would have broken me," she said.

Bukowski's family moved into their home last November. She says some neighbors told her their basements have flooded multiple times, others hardly at all, if ever.

Coincidentally, Bukowski had crews over before the storm to put in a new bubbler for her yard.

"The bubbler that was there wasn't working very well. So, they were doing that prior to the rain, and then they're finishing it up today,” Bukowski said.

While the crews are there, Bukowski says she is having them put in a retaining wall to give her home extra protection in the future.

Cheektowaga Highway crews came in Monday to clear everyone's flooded belongings.

Highway Superintendent Mark Wegner says he will personally monitor West Toulon Drive over the coming days and deploy additional equipment when needed.

“We went in with two high lifts, we had two crews, five trucks, and we're gonna do this again on Thursday because a lot of taxpayers or residents haven't got everything else out yet,” Wegner said.

Bukowski says Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Diane Benczkowski visited people on her street and said she would look into options to provide relief for the residents.

The Supervisor's office did not immediately return a request for comment.