WYOMING COUNTY, N.Y. — The confirmed EF2 tornado that touched down in Wyoming County Thursday morning carried wind speeds as high as 115 miles per hour.
The National Weather Service said the twister's 10-mile-long path took down trees, snapped telephone poles and sent personal property flying.
The path of the tornado according to NWS meteorologist Mike Fries followed Route 78; driving that stretch of road from Java to Wethersfield Thursday night left little doubt. There were dozens of trees toppled, pieces of roofing strewn everywhere, and even young corn was ripped right from the field.
"Route 78 had an excessive number of downed trees across the roadway and in one section it did take down some power lines," said Wyoming County Fire Coordinator Bill Streicher, who was going house to house making sure everyone was okay.
One family was said to be receiving assistance from the Red Cross.
Kent and Julie Fisher lost their old barn when the tornado made its way through Java, Bliss, and Wethersfield. Julie Fisher said after countless wind and snow storms when her husband called to say the "piece of history" had fallen she almost didn't believe it.
Their other barn, donkeys, and goats were fortunately unharmed by the wind, but debris from the old barn including nails and pieces of shingle was thrown across their neighboring field. They know cleanup will take some time but are grateful that harvesting had recently happened.
Even the Wethersfield Town Supervisor didn't escape the damage, his camping trailer was flipped into his garage. The twister left plenty of stuff dangling and damaged but he too said no one was hurt.
Another family along Route 78, the Bastedos had the roof of their shed blown off. Their home was spared except for a broken window, however.
"It took a huge tree down on the north side of the house and the trees on the other side of the house too so we're very very lucky," said Tara Bastedo.
Like the others impacted by the EF2, the Bastedos are now waiting on their insurance to determine how much they lost and hoping that, unlike Thursday's freak storm, the assessment doesn't come as a shock.