BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you wanted to see the brunt of where Monday’s tornado touched down, a few streets on Buffalo’s west side saw the worst of it.
Neighbors like James Carr and Evelyn Piniro along Prospect Avenue watched their once peaceful neighborhood get marred by Mother Nature.
Carr was alerted of the weather event by his wife.
“I was in the living room, and she suddenly burst through the door shouting, ‘Tornado! Tornado! Run for the basement.’”
Piniro caught wind of the rare storm once her dog began barking.
“I was so scared,” she said. “Let me tell you, I was so scared.”
The two neighbors live just a block away from Niagara and Carolina Streets where the National Weather Service confirmed an EF1 tornado touched down just before 1 p.m. Monday. With it came wind speed of up to 90 miles per hour, knocking roofs off buildings and sending debris for blocks.
“I could see pieces of buildings as big as a garage door moving horizontally through the air,” Carr said.
National Grid reported over 800 customers in the city were without power, creating chaos for drivers across the areas hardest hit. But by the evening, power had been restored to all but 65 customers.
The worst of the damage came at the expense of cars, with dozens trapped under toppled tree branches and some even being flipped over.
But it was a small price to pay for neighbors, as officials confirmed no one was hurt.
“We have to thank God because we are alive,” Piniro said. “A car is nothing.”
With cleanup efforts underway, neighbors in West Buffalo aren’t taking their safety for granted after an afternoon they never thought would happen in Buffalo.
“My sister lives in California, and they're always having a disaster out there, and I always said, ‘Come back to Buffalo. Live calm,’” Carr said. “Not anymore.”