EDEN, N.Y. — Fundraiser efforts are underway after an EF-2 tornado struck the Town of Eden on Wednesday.
First, an Eden restaurant chose to step up to help tornado victims, offering free ice cream on Saturday and urging people to make donations for families in need.
Now, the Eden Farmers Market is doing what it can to help others. The market, on its Facebook page, said it would accept monetary donations during the next week.
Specially, officials said they would accept donations from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the market, at 2912 Legion Drive.
"Families that have built up their family home for over 50 years, have lost everything," the market said. "A dairy farm that has been around for generations, lost years of hard work, buildings, equipment, trucks and I am sure cattle. Our neighbors need our help."
The tornado that touched down Wednesday in Eden had initially been considered an EF-0.
With two days to examine the damage, the National Weather Service now considers that Erie County twister an EF-2.
An EF-0 tornado has winds of 65 to 85 mph. An EF-2 has winds that range between 111 and 135 mph, and in this case, the National Weather Service estimates that winds reached 115 mph in Eden.
The Eden tornado touched down at 12:40 p.m. Wednesday and ended at 12:46.
Initially, the area with the most damage was near Gary Drive and Sauer Road, where "multiple building had uprooted shallow rooted trees fall onto them. This was by far the area of greatest damage extend and the end of the path of this tornado," the weather agency said.
More damage uncovered in the days that followed led to a revised report.