Tornadoes Strike Western New York – Corfu and Darien Suffer Significant Storm Damage

An extremely rare series of tornadoes struck western New York this weekend, causing significant damage from east of Buffalo to west of Rochester.  All of the confirmed tornadoes have been designated as F1 on the enhanced Fujita scale.

Storm Specifics
Location: Darien and Corfu, Genesee County, New York
Date: Saturday July 25, 2009
Time of Tornado: 4:50-5:00pm EDT
Fujita Scale Rating: EF1
Maximum Wind Speed: 100 miles per hour
Maximum Width of Tornado: 100 yards
Path Length of Tornado: 3.5 miles
Beginning Latitude/Longitude: 42.93N / 78.44W
Ending Latitude/Longitude: 42.96N / 78.39W

Although widespread damage occurred to the southern portion of the village of Corfu, no injuries or fatalities occurred as a result of the storm.  Some 25-30 homes were damaged, one greenhouse and a barn were leveled, and at least 20 power poles were brought down by the storm.  Damage to trees was the most visible consequence of the storm — countless numbers in the immediate vicinity of the high winds from the storm were uprooted.  Debris flying through the air caused damage to a number of vehicles as well.

Tornadoes of any size are a rare event in western New York, although they are not unknown.  Most of those that do occur last only a few minutes and are not comparable to the devastating monster storms found in the midwest and southern portions of the United States.

The appearance of unusual weather events like tornadoes would be surprising had the entire summer season in western New York not already been one for the record books.  In addition to enormous, record-breaking downpours and other rain events, which have been occurring near-daily for more than eight weeks now, July 2009 is on tap to be the coldest month in the history of Rochester, since measurements began to be taken in the mid 1800′s.

In addition to rain in amount near triple the average, temperatures have been routinely cool throughout the entire summer season for many residents to not bother with air conditioning.  Daytime temperatures routinely hover in the low 70s, with nighttime lows in the low to mid-50′s.  That’s weather more common in southern Alberta than the humid temperate region of western New York, whose summers can resemble states far south of New York.

An extensive series of video news reports from television stations in Buffalo and Rochester are available to view below the page jump (simply click …Continue Reading to access the videos).

[flv width="360" height="240"]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WROC Rochester – Live Tornado Warning Corfu Mayor Interview 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WROC-TV Rochester broke into regular programming Saturday afternoon with breaking news coverage of the tornado warning, which impacted the viewing area.  The mayor of Corfu apparently did a number of telephone interviews, because he also turned up on rival WHAM-TV.  Meteorologist Scott Hetsko rushed to the station to get on the air, as his casual wear attests.

[flv width="296" height="222"]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WHAM Rochester – Live Tornado Warning Corfu Mayor 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WHAM-TV Rochester interviewed the mayor of Corfu during the Saturday evening 6:00pm evening newscast, live via telephone.

[flv width="480" height="360"]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WIVB Buffalo Tornado Rips Through WNY 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WIVB-TV Buffalo has an early report in about the tornado damage in Darien and Corfu, and some local emotional reactions to the damage.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WKBW Buffalo – Tornado Strikes Genesee County 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WKBW-TV Buffalo also surveyed the damage in two reports on their early evening news this afternoon.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WKBW Buffalo – Damage in Corfu from Tornado 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

In this second of two reports from WKBW-TV, a closer look at the damage in the village of Corfu.

[flv width="360" height="240"]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WROC Rochester – Damage in Corfu 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WROC-TV Rochester was one of many Rochester stations to extensively cover the tornado story.  Rochester and Buffalo stations are commonly both seen in Genesee County.  In this report, more surveying the damage in Corfu.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WHEC Rochester – Tornado Strikes Corfu 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WHEC-TV Rochester was live on scene in Corfu as the evening arrived, with reports that roads remained closed as night fell on western New York.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WHEC Rochester – Tornado Stories in WNY 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WHEC-TV Rochester had plenty of pictures and stories to share from those impacted by the tornadoes that struck the area.

[flv width="360" height="240"]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WROC Rochester – Press Conference Highlights in Corfu 7-25-09.flv[/flv]

WROC-TV Rochester rounds out the coverage this evening with a review of what happened at tonight’s press conference on the tornado.