By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
GREAT VALLEY — The U.S. Weather Service confirmed last Tuesday that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Great Valley Monday, leaving a nearly 2.4-mile path of destruction, but no deaths or serious injuries.
The winds were estimated at 110-mph, said Cattaraugus County Emergency Services Director Chris Baker, who met late Tuesday morning with the Weather Service survey team dispatched to the site that began near the intersection of Sugartown and Farm to Market roads.
The tornado first hit a wooded hillside about 5:37 p.m. Monday when it flattened most of the trees jumping across the road where it ripped off the roof of a home at the intersection and damaged or destroyed outbuildings It traveled about four miles over the next four minutes, leaving a 600-yard wide path of debris, which ended at Forks Creek in Humphrey, according to the Weather Service.
There was no immediate estimate of the cost of the damage. Baker said there were eight homes damaged by the tornado and numerous outbuildings including a 40-ft. by 40 ft. barn near where it first touched down.
Dozens of utility poles were downed by the high winds. Ten crews from National Grid were brought in Monday night and a fresh crew arrived Tuesday morning with the goal of restoring power to about 400 families by that afternoon.
Baker said a FedEx delivery truck “got picked up, twirled around and put in the ditch” near the Sugartown/Farm to Market roads intersection. The driver, he said, “was shaken but OK.”
Four people in the house nearest the intersection were in an upstairs room when the roof was ripped off their home, Baker said. “No one was seriously injured, thank God.”
Baker said reports of damage from the tornado came in at the same time there was flooding in Little Valley and Randolph from the heavy rains that pelted parts of the county Monday afternoon and a structure fire on East Bucktooth Run. High wind warnings were also in effect at the time.
Even before first responders could get to the affected areas, residents on four-wheelers checked on neighbors homes. Volunteers with chainsaws pitched in to clear trees from some roads for access for first responders — fire trucks and rescue vehicles, ambulances and police.
An emergency command center was set up near the Sugartown/Farm to Market intersection.
Cattaraugus County Public Works employees were helping clear trees from the roadsides on Tuesday.
Other areas of tornado damage viewed by Weather Services investigators were located on Route 98, Haines Hollow Road, Bonnie Way and McGuan Road.
While no emergency assistance was immediately available, Baker urged residents with damage to document it along with the cleanup. If individuals need help, Emergency Services will direct them to Social Services, Department of Aging or the county’s Economic Development group. He said the county’s website — cattco.org — would have information for those impacted by the tornado.
Area roadways remained closed around the site of the cleanup and power restoration until Tuesday afternoon as utility and Public Works crews finished and packed up.
The Weather Service Buffalo Office said the Great Valley tornado was the first one in the region this year.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
