The Oneida County town of Verona is still cleaning up after a tornado touched down and caused damage to homes, road signs, trees and businesses Tuesday night.
Town Councilman Fred "Fritz" Scherz lives only a few miles from where the tornado landed. He says he quickly reached out to the National Weather Service to survey the damages.
"Yesterday, the National Grid crews were out," Scherz said. "They wanted to allow time for Time Warner Cable and Verizon to get all their stuff done. And then today, the town's focusing on the clean up aspect. Already by last night, 6:30, seven o'clock, you could see that it looked a lot better than it did."
Scherz said no one was injured, but power lines were brought down, homes were damaged and the roof was torn off of a Sav-On gas station nearby.
Officials haven't begun to add up the damages, though insurance agents and claims adjusters are looking at homes and businesses. Verona may apply for government assistance to help clean up, Scherz said.
"Hopefully there will be some assistance," Scherz said. "It's a small community, and when one person feels something, we all do. So hopefully there'll be something to give folks some good news that there will be a little assistance, at least."
Verona was hit by an EF1 tornado, according to the National Weather Service, which can carry winds up to 100 miles per hour. It then weakened before crossing I-90 toward Westmoreland, traveling a total of about 11 miles.
This is the second tornado to touch down in upstate New York. Last month, a tornado with winds up to 140 miles per hour hit the Schenectady County town of Duanesburg.