Rome, N.Y. (AP) — A tornado ravaged an upstate New York town as a wave of severe storms pummeled a wide swath of the Northeast Tuesday into Wednesday, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare a statewide emergency.
The relentless series of storms has caused deaths or damage from the Plains to New England this week--all as hundreds of thousands of people have lost power and air conditioning during days of sweltering heat.
Hochul declared a state of emergency Tuesday night due to the severe weather upstate, which preceded storms forecasted Wednesday evening for the New York City area, which is in the grips of a heat wave.
Cities across upstate also declared states of emergency after the storm swept through Tuesday with high winds and spectacular lightning. A confirmed tornado in the city of Rome tipped over vehicles and left streets clogged with tree debris, power poles and electrical transformers.
The winds were fierce enough to move a multi-ton tourist attraction, a B-52 bomber displayed at Griffiss Business and Technology Park. Steeples crumbled and roofs were torn apart at First Presbyterian Church and St. Mary’s Church, both built in the 1800s. St. Mary’s is not an active church and is privately owned.
“These are beautiful old churches. It breaks my heart,” Rome resident Barb Mulvey said on Facebook.
A mural of a Revolutionary War figure on horseback, a Rome landmark, was destroyed, along with the building on which it was painted. All that remained was an image of a horse hoof.
Speaking outside St. Mary’s, Gov. Kathy Hochul said it was “miraculous” no one was killed in Rome, a city of 31,000. She toured the small downtown Wednesday and said 22 buildings were damaged or destroyed. She described trees “collapsed like toothpicks,” houses with their roofs gone, and mobile homes tipped over with people inside.
She marveled at narrow escapes, including two children in a medical waiting room who emerged unscathed, though the building was partially “obliterated.”
Storm debris hit and killed an 82-year-old man who was outdoors about 30 miles away in Canastota, village administrator Jeremy Ryan said. Hochul said three homes collapsed and 30 structures were also damaged in the community.
About 200,000 homes and businesses lacked power Wednesday in northeastern U.S. states, according to PowerOutage.us. In New York alone on Tuesday evening, more than 100,000 customers were without power.
A storm helped bring under control a forest fire burning at a military bombing range in New Jersey as it dropped half an inch of rain, the state forest fire service said.
Across the U.S., the storms have led to at least five deaths, including the one in New York.
Flooding killed an 88-year-old couple who were in their car near Elsah, Illinois, on Tuesday and a 76-year-old passenger in a pickup in Rockford, Illinois, on Sunday. A fallen tree killed a 44-year-old woman in Cedar Lake, Indiana, on Monday.
1010 WINS contributed to this report.
