Emergency crews and officials from the National Weather Service were still on the scene in Great Valley in Cattaraugus County, following a tornado which touched down in the town on Monday evening.
At 3:16 p.m. on Tuesday, a NWS storm team confirmed it as an EF-1 tornado. It lasted four minutes before dissipating. The path stretched 2.4 miles, and brought winds as high as 110 mph.
According to the National Weather Service, towns including Great Valley, Franklinville and Ellicottville were dealing with severe thunderstorms, rain and wind throughout much of Monday night.
The service had also issued a tornado warning at 5:36 p.m. extending until 6:00 p.m.
"The radar did show a fairly strong rotation in that area," said Jon Hitchcock, meteorologist with the NWS Buffalo office. "We also received quite a few pictures and even some drone footage of significant tree damage. It looks like there's 100 plus trees down in the area, and also significant damage to several structures."
A storm survey crew from NWS was in Great Valley, combing through debris and properties that were in the path of the damage.
"We look at the damage and determine, one, was it a straight line wind or tornadoes? We look at the path of damage and how the debris is laid out," said Hitchcock. "In tornadoes, debris tends to focus along the center of the path, because the tornado occurs where air is being drawn into the storm. So there's kind of a convergent signature in the damage."
The Cattaraugus County Office of Emergency Services has not reported any serious injuries. They are asking residents to document damage to their property, and submit it to their office using an online form. You can also call them at 716-938-9119.
The possible tornado bookended a wild weekend of weather in the Southern Tier. As early as Friday, the region was dealing with severe rainfall, leading to a water rescue by the Allegany Fire Department Technical Rescue Team in Ischua.
The team was called in to handle the operation, due to waist high water flood conditions. They were able to rescue two adults and two young children out of a home, who according to the rescue team, were showing early signs of hypothermia.
