Heather Lamberson, South Valley supervisor, issued the state of emergency at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

Heavy rains and ensuing flash flooding washed away a cross culvert on Burch Drive near Sawmill Run Road.

Burch Drive is a dead end roadway that has three other dead end roads that feed off of it.

In addition to Burch Drive, Janet Drive and Robert Lane have been closed to all traffic until further notice. Residents living on those three roads have been contacted by town officials and encouraged to evacuate their homes because the road is impassable, which makes it difficult for fire, police and EMS services to reach them.

West Fairmount Avenue pictured under the old train viaduct after torrential rain caused flooding early Thursday. P-J photo by David Kircher

The 911 system, local Fire, EMS & Law Enforcement agencies have been notified of the washout and road closure and plans have been implemented to ensure the best possible response to the affected residents that choose not to evacuate.

Warren Thomas, South Valley town highway superintendent, told The Post-Journal a temporary bridge will be installed on Burch Drive through shared services between the town and county public works.

Repairs will be completed as soon as possible.

Volunteer firefighters from Frewsburg were summoned to Burch Drive, near Sawmill Run Road, after Cattaraugus County dispatchers received word shortly before 10 a.m. that a portion of the road and culvert had washed away due to raging waters from a nearby creek.

Lamberson said Burch is a town road and noted that crews remained on scene through the afternoon assessing the damage.

Thomas reported that no one was hurt during the day’s flooding and also said that permanent residents on Burch Drive along with campers will be given the chance to evacuate by crossing a private ATV trail.

The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office said most damage due to Thursday’s flooding was in the South Valley area.

In Lakewood, crews closed a portion of West Fairmount Avenue under the train viaduct due to flooding. Roads were also covered in water on Route 60 near the New York State Police barracks.

Brad Bentley, director of Chautauqua County Public Facilities, said Jones and Gifford Ave. was closed for a few hours Thursday. He added that his crews will be doing shoulder work on roads that were eroded by the flooding.

“I think we’re getting a handle on it,” Bentley said. “We’ll be wrapping that up (Thursday) and (today).”

Bentley said that more possible rainfall will require more work to manage road safety. He also urged drivers to not travel on flooded roads. Overall, Bentley said flooding this spring has been comparable to floods in past years.

Eric Tichy contributed to this story.

Follow Eric Zavinski at twitter.com/EZavinski