Leigh Valley’s record rainfall Feb. 24 hit home for Salisbury Township Commissioner Debra Brinton.

“Our main sewer line couldn’t take all of the stormwater, so I had a problem with the flooding,” Brinton said during the commissioners’ comment portion of the Feb. 25 township meeting.

“Stormwater isn’t supposed to go into the storm sewer,” Brinton said, who lives with her husband along Cypress Avenue on the township’s east side where she represents Ward 3.

According to the National Weather Service, 2.77 inches of rain fell Feb. 24 at Lehigh Valley International Airport, breaking the previous Feb. 24 record of 1.34 inches set in 1977. From 8 to 10 p.m. Feb. 24, which was the peak of the storm, 1.85 inches of rain was recorded.

“The problem is when you have flash flooding like we did last night [Feb. 24],” Salisbury Township Consulting Engineer David J. Tettemer of Keystone Consulting Engineers, Inc. said, “everything works to cause a volume problem.”

“We’ll go over it,” Salisbury Township Director of Public Works John Andreas said.

Brinton said it is the only time in 36 years of living in the township she has witnessed such flooding.

“Sewer water was going right into Trout Creek,” Brinton said. “It was like a river.

“It took until 2:30 in the morning [to clean up],” Brinton said.

“If you hear a gurgle from your shower or toilet, watch out,” Brinton warned.

“It’s not going in the right direction,” Tettemer agreed.