OLCOTT, N.Y. (WBEN)......Bill Clark was running some late afternoon errands Wednesday when the skies over his Olcott hometown turned ominously midnight dark.
Then, the weather really turned.
By the time Clark returned to his Althea Road house, a century-plus, more than 100-foot-tall locust tree fell on two spare bedrooms in his house. Luckily no one was home and no injuries were reported.
"The tree was healthy but 70 mph winds pulled it out by its roots," Clark said.
The damage to Clark's house was one of several incidents reported as the torrid storm raced its way through large swaths of Western New York including Olcott, Shelby and the Getzville hamlet in Amherst.
"Our tree held up in other storms, but not this one," Clark said.
One of Clark's neighbors, Ann Callahan saw a 200-pound, Amish-made polywood table lifted from her back patio and landed 50 feet away in her backyard that overlooks Olcott Harbor..
Other tables and chairs on her back patio were also overturned with the heaviest loss being a Jimmy Buffett Landshark Beer-themed table that sustained heavy damages.
"That one hurts," Callahan said. :"But, the big picture is that no one was injured and it was just 'things' that were damaged."
During the height of the storm, there were several tornado watches issued by the National Weather Service. As of Thursday afternoon, the weather service was still investigating.
But to Steve Showin from the Orleans town of West Shelby, he is convinced a tornado touched down either in his town or nearby Shelby.
Showin and his family huddled in their bathroom until the storm passed. Outside tree limbs were flying and rain was falling at a rapid pace.
"It was epic," Showin said. "It had a very eerie feeling."
The night proved to be a busy one for law enforcement agencies, first responders and even highway crews.
In Amherst, the police handled 64 storm-related calls and the town's volunteer firefighters had 51 calls. On a normal late summer week night, only a handful of calls would come into the police and fire dispatchers.
John Miller, from the Newfane Highway Department, said he and his entire crew were called into work around 6:30 p.m. to handle downed trees and flood streets.
"We were busy," Miller said. "Let's face it, we normally don't get tornados around here."
Downed trees, destroyed lawn furniture dominate the damage report
Downed trees, destroyed lawn furniture dominate the damage report
