WEST SENECA, N.Y. - Storms that rolled through Western New York damaged an apartment building in West Seneca Saturday afternoon.
The National Weather Service (NWS) Office in Buffalo confirmed a weak EF0 tornado touched down in West Seneca earlier Saturday afternoon at 1:47 p.m. on October 20, with estimated maximum wind speed 65 to 75 mph.
2 On Your Side was on the scene in West Seneca and got reaction from neighbors.
"And all of a sudden I went to my front window and saw a funnel cloud come down it took the tree out across the street went back up popped back down in their back yard went up and went straight across the street from me," said Debra Janaski, who witnessed the tornado.
The storm initially was a brief waterspout that moved over the Buffalo Small Boat Harbor around 1:33 p.m. No damage was noted along its path until the Town of West Seneca.
"It sounded like a train and my mom screamed tornado tornado and everyone ran into the basement," said Laura Petrell. "We have a broken windshield my little sisters car and my step fathers motorcycle is stuck in the garage but besides that nothing that can't be fixed."
The maximum path width was 75 yards and the path length was 0.16 miles. No injuries were reported.
From the National Weather Service report:
A ground survey report of the damage from the NWS found: a weak and low-topped super cell thunderstorm tracked off of Lake Erie and into Erie county. The thunderstorm had produced a brief waterspout over the Buffalo Small Boat Harbor before weakening as it moved inland over Lackawanna. The first damage of note was a small tree on Greenmeadow Drive in West Seneca that was uprooted and downed. Further east and south-east down the street, multiple hardwood limbs were broken off a
tree and flung to the northeast. Roof damage, including shingles being removed, damage to the facade, broken windows, and missing shutters were found on a condominium building immediately to the east-southeast of the downed and broken trees. debris from this building and another garage behind this building was strung out primarily to the east-northeast of the building and subsequent garage and extended eastward across Orchard Park Road. The pattern of damage was consistent with a weak and brief EF0 tornado. Also, two witnesses at the scene confirm observing swirling debris moving in the path consistent with the damage. No other damage was found in the areas surrounding this very isolated tornadic debris.
According to a report from the West Seneca Police department, a woman claims she saw a funnel cloud touch down in the area on Greenmeadow Drive.
Police are also saying damage from the roof also damaged a garage adjacent to the building.
The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:
EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH
You can view the full report here.