Aaron Besecker and Justin O’Connor – The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Western New York is accustomed to dealing with the kind of weather that makes the rest of the world take notice. Just not this kind.
For the second day this summer, the region found itself in the unfamiliar position of dealing with a tornado. This one touched down within shouting distance from downtown. The twister did not appear to cause any injuries or worse, but it left a memorable trail of devastation in its path, from toppled trees and damaged roofs to cars flipped over and windows blown out of buildings.
It was part of another strange weather day in the Buffalo area that included torrential downpours that led to some roads flooding in the Northtowns.
Dozens of eyewitnesses took to social media to say they saw what looked like a tornado cross Lake Erie not far from the Peace Bridge and touch down near Niagara and Carolina streets on the city’s lower West Side. Officials initially took pains to not call it a tornado.
But by midafternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed that that is exactly what it was.
It was given a preliminary rating of EF-1. The NWS said its maximum width was 300 yards and estimated its maximum wind speed at 90 mph.
The weather service noted that it traveled for 1.4 miles, beginning at the Niagara Street exit from the I-190 expressway at 12:45 p.m. and ending six minutes later at Oak Street and East Tupper Street.
“This appears to be the third tornado that has struck Erie County in approximately a month,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a Monday news conference.
The state saw a record 17 confirmed tornadoes last month, including four that touched down around Western New York on July 10. Those were the remnants of Hurricane Beryl and caused damage in Eden, West Falls, Arkwright and Darien.
This latest one, which sent emergency responders scrambling, touched down just before 1 p.m.
Police Commissioner Joseph A. Gramaglia said crews responded immediately. Mayor Byron W. Brown confirmed damage at the Ellicott Center nursing home, Buffalo City Mission and Hutchinson Central Technical High School.
At the nursing home, firefighters responded to the report of a potential roof collapse just before 1 p.m., according to communications on the Buffalo Fire Department radio channel. Around the same time, firefighters were also dispatched for a report of a vehicle on its roof at the City Mission.
Centers Health Care, which owns Ellicott Center, said nobody was hurt and that the damage is being assessed. About a quarter of the facility’s approximately 120 residents will be moved, as a portion of the building is not habitable, Poloncarz said after visiting the building at 200 Seventh St.
Centers spokesman Jeff Jacomowitz reported Monday night that 24 residents were moved to other parts of the facility but it was not necessary to move any residents elsewhere.
He noted that a “temporary roof has been placed on the building and the building is sound.” He added that none of the staff or residents were hurt.
A three-story, painted, red brick building on Niagara Street just past Carolina Street is missing some bricks at the top of the building after powerful storm hits Buffalo’s Lower West Side on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.
A three-story building on Niagara Street just past Carolina Street also had damaged bricks near the roof. One man who reported being inside the building said he walked out and saw bricks everywhere.
One of his neighbors, Lourdes Ortiz, said she saw tree debris flying through the air when she looked out her first-floor window after her dog started barking.
Also in the area, Trevor Griffis said he saw a lot of debris, seemingly from a building’s roof, flying right in front of him as he was parking his car on Seventh Street while coming back to work at City Hall. He heard some loud noises and wasn’t sure if it was the sound of the Niagara Street building damage or debris hitting cars.
A few windows and a tree were also damaged at Hutchinson Central Technical High School, where the damage is being repaired, according to a Buffalo Public Schools news release. No one was hurt.
“There are only a limited number of students in other BPS schools today, and they are safe,” said Jeffrey Hammond, BPS spokesperson.
National Grid reported that about 800 customers in the area lost power, Brown also said at the news conference.
Gramaglia urged people to just avoid the area entirely if possible.
“We are asking everybody to not come down here,” he said. “Don’t sightsee. Don’t drive down here. Please stay out of the area.”
Crews were assessing damage and beginning the process of cleaning up what the tornado left behind.
Niagara Street reopened shortly after 8 p.m. Officials warned motorists that some of the traffic signals still were not working. The ramps from the I-190 to Niagara Street were reported open again at 8:30 p.m.
News Staff reporters Jon Harris and Harold McNeil contributed to this article.
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