SARANAC LAKE – On Tuesday evening, the Hotel Saranac’s former parking lot looked like a gigantic muddy swimming pool and Academy Street resembled a river, but traces of the flash flooding were gone by midday Wednesday.

Crews had dug out the hotel lot, and water no longer filled the hole at midday Wednesday. Workers were busy as continued to lay groundwork for a two-story parking garage to accommodate guests of the 89-year-old hotel, which is being restored.

A work supervisor had said Wednesday evening the water wouldn’t be much of a setback, and apparently he was right.

Thunderstorms dumped a deluge of rain on this area late Tuesday afternoon, and Academy Street, which is being reconstructed, was flooded. The water flowed from the street down into the parking garage hole, filling it up.

“So glad to see the ‘absolutely brand new’ sewer system on Academy Street was designed so skillfully,” new Saranac Lake Planning Board member Donna DiFara posted on her Facebook page Tuesday next to a photo of the road covered in water. She repeated versions of the comment on the Enterprise’s Facebook page.

Academy Street is something of a low point, and water tends to flow down to it from Helen Hill and downtown, but normally it would flow into storm drains and not be a bother. Academy Street does have new storm drains, but they were closed up until the road is ready to be repaved.

Jeff Dora, superintendent of the village Department of Public Works, said his workers temporarily covered the storm drain openings with steel plates and buried them in the dirt that is not the road’s surface. He said he’s found that it creates problems if the manholes and drains are built up to stick through the ground at what will be pavement level too soon. It’s best to cover them until the right time – unless there’s a flood.

DPW employees could be seen wading in 2 to 3 feet of water at the corner of Academy and St. Bernard streets Tuesday evening, finding, digging up and opening the new storm drains. Once they did, the water drained fairly quickly.

Bloomingdale Avenue, St. Bernard Street and Neil Street were also temporarily closed due to flash flooding fromt he storm and reopened Tuesday. Garden Street leading up to French Hill remained closed Wednesday. Dora said there was some washing out beneath the pavement.