"It happens every year but usually not until late March or early April. It’s only February and the water is already moving fast," remarked Patricia Cappotelli who lives on West Main Street in Caledonia.

   Both the village and town governments are well aware of the flooding threat to parts of Caledonia and they are continually taking steps to minimize the water flow from the west. Several years ago, the Department of Environmental Conservation constructed a trench behind homes on the south side of West Main Street. The trench channels the water as it flows from west to east toward the village and significantly reduces basement flooding for homeowners on that side of the street. Now the village and town highway departments plan to install two underground pipes under the railroad bed behind New York Bean that would divert the water to the north side of the railroad tracks where it could make its way eastward to the MacKay Wildlife Preserve and Spring Creek.

   "I watch it (the Route 5 falls) every day. It (the flooding) has been much better in the past several years since a West Main Street property owner built a holding pond on his front yard. That holds back a lot of water," explained Chris Buckley who heads the Village of Caledonia Water and Street department.

   Cappotelli, her mother Mary Middleton and aunt, Betty Aquino, have lived in their West Main Street home for over 60 years and in that time they’ve seen a lot of flooding in the late winter and early spring. The last big flood came in 1992 and devastated their property.

   "When I was a little girl it was so bad that we had to have a wood plank to get out of our house. The water comes through the cellar walls. In 1992, the water filled the cellar and came up to the top stair and nearly into our living room. The fireman stayed up all night pumping out our basement," Cappotelli recalled.

   Fortunately, it hasn’t been that bad since, but residents know that it could happen at any time. That’s why they encourage their neighbors to keep the trench behind their homes clear so the water can flow freely. Cappotelli and her relatives believe that digging another ditch behind the homes on the north side of West Main Street would benefit everyone. "When the water comes, those people pump the water out of their basements out to the road and then it comes across the street and right back in to our cellars."

   They’d also like to see the trench made environmentally safe by lining it with stone, as was done at the corner of West Main and Leicester Streets to deal with excessive water build up in that area.

   With the up and down temperatures of the winter of 2008, residents of West Main Street and the village and town DPWs are keeping a close watch on the little falls on Route 5 west.