Hail Causes Significant Damage in Gowanda

Gowanda, NY (WBEN) - Tuesday's storm brought extreme weather including golf ball sized hail that piled up on Village streets to Gowanda, where today they're cleaning up the mess left behind.

Chief of the Gowanda Volunteer Fire Department Steve Raiport told WBEN that it was unlike anything he's ever seen.

"It was really, really dark. We thought we were getting another eclipse to be honest with you," Raiport said. "We've never saw anything like that. The State DOT had to plow the roads to clear all the hail off the roads."

All that damaging hail has left a mark across the village.

"My own vehicle looks like Swiss cheese," Raiport said. "A lot of houses' siding looked like somebody went by and did a drive-by shooting and just pulverized the siding on a lot of the houses. Our Town Hall, the windows were all shattered out from the way the hail came in with the wind blowing it sideways."

Flooding was also an issue. That's not unusual in Gowanda, but Tuesday it didn't come from area streams like it normally does. Instead, runoff from the downpours flooded entire streets.

Raiport told WBEN that Gowanda is mostly back to normal Wednesday, but he's urging people to be aware of the cleanup still taking place on the roads in that area.