Heavy rains on Monday left parts of Lewis County, specifically Lowville, underwater. The latest storm came about five weeks after the village of Lowville was hit with a massive rainstorm, causing significant flood damage to homes, businesses and schools.

What You Need To Know

  • Lowville is once again cleaning up, streets, basements and its school, as rains caused more flooding Monday morning

  • Fire crews said they had a couple trucks at the school pumping out water, and neighboring departments were able to pump out about 30 basements as of Monday afternoon

  • A little more than a month ago, rains caused massive flooding in Lowville, including some $10 million in damage to the school

“I cannot believe this is happening again,” a voice in a submitted video said.

Just a little over a month ago, Lowville Academy Central School District's athletic fields were submerged in water. That scene was unfortunately repeated on Monday morning.

“It’s becoming the normal this summer,” Lowville Fire Chief Joe Austin said.

Austin is chief of the Lowville Volunteer Fire Department. While he said this event was nowhere near as bad as last month's, it still kept his department very busy.

“We had two other fire departments here helping in Martinsburg and New Bremen, and also sent crews with pumps to help with keep up with the basements,” he said.

By Monday afternoon, Austin said the departments had responded to about 30 flooded basements. Lowville also had two trucks at the school, which had once again taken on water – not only at the athletic fields but inside the halls and classrooms as well.

“My understanding is the first floor of the elementary did get water damage again, had water standing inside of it,” Austin said.

Most of the water from the athletic fields and inside of the school had dissipated Monday, with crews doing some cleanup.

“I’m not really sure what's different this year compared to other years. I mean, yeah, we've gotten more rain, but like today’s storm, I wouldn't call that a huge amount of rain. I mean it was a heavy rainstorm, that's all I'd call it,” Austin said.

Either way, Austin does call it heartbreaking, to not only see the school hit again, but several homes.

“I feel bad because I'm not really sure what to do about it. I'm not even sure who to discuss it with because I don't know where the issue is,” he said.

“Folks here at the Louisville Volunteer Fire Department say it is indeed frustrating not understanding all of this, although they do say they will be ready for if and when the next one comes,” Austin said.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the Lowville academy superintendent for a report on the latest damage. We will follow up as soon as we get the information.