Cleanup begins after destructive storms tear through Victor and Finger Lakes
Cleanup won’t be a quick process in Victor or several surrounding communities after severe thunderstorms tore across the Finger Lakes on Saturday afternoon, toppling trees, damaging homes and vehicles, flooding roads, and leaving thousands without power.
Videos and photos from across the region captured the storm as it arrived, along with the destruction left behind. In Victor, large trees were snapped or uprooted, utility poles and wires came down, roads were blocked and several homes were struck.
While damage was reported across Ontario County and farther east into the Southern Tier, the greatest concentration of reports came from Victor and the surrounding area. The National Weather Service received more than a dozen reports from the town and village within a matter of minutes.
Victor Fire Department officials said crews handled roughly 40 calls during the first two hours of the response.
“For the past two hours VFD, along with assistance from Bushnell’s Basin Fire Department, Town of Victor DPW, Village of Victor DPW, Code Enforcement and the Victor Fire Marshal, have responded to approximately 40 calls for service due to the sudden intense storm that went through Victor,” the department said. “We have been dealing with trees down, wires down, automatic alarms, and several damaged houses.”
The most serious damage included a tree that fell through a home on McMahon Road, causing extensive damage. Trees also fell onto homes on Hunters Run, Medford Way and Main Street.
Along Kelly Drive, two trees came down across the road. One struck a car, while another report said trees landed on a trailer and vehicle.
A tree also fell onto a car on East Main Street, cracking its windshield. Nearby, five trees were reported down around the East Main Street and Lynaugh Road roundabout.
The storm snapped a power pole in half on Winston Drive, bringing lines down with it. Trees and wires were also reported down on Chapel Hill Road, while another tree blocked both lanes of High Street Extension.
Damage continued east of the village, where wires fell across Beaver Creek Road in Farmington and a tree came down across Tudor Way.
Along State Route 96, which serves as Victor’s Main Street, residents and businesses were left surveying widespread tree damage Saturday evening. The reports followed a narrow timeline, with much of the destruction in Victor occurring between 3:33 and 3:37 p.m.
Thousands of customers lost electricity during and immediately after the storms. By early Sunday morning, the number of remaining outages had fallen to around 500 as utility crews continued clearing trees, replacing damaged equipment and restoring service.
Storm damage reports beyond Victor area
Near Mendon and Fishers, several trees came down, including three or four along Willis Hill Road. A tree and wires were reported down on Ontario Street near Honeoye Falls.
In Bloomfield, a large tree branch and utility wires fell along Main Street. In Canandaigua, trees and wires came down on Clark Street, while a tree blocked Davidson Avenue.
A house in Cheshire, south of Canandaigua, was also flooded as heavy rain moved through the area. The National Weather Service classified that report as flash flooding.
In Honeoye, a tree and wires came down on Briggs Street. Wires also fell across County Road 488 near Seneca Castle.
Geneva saw multiple rounds of damage. A tree partially blocked Gambee Road north of the city early in the afternoon. Later, trees came down across Hillcrest Avenue and along Washington Street, where one may have struck a garage.
Storm damage reports from later in the evening were shared by the National Weather Service from Tompkins and Schuyler counties.
In Ithaca, a tree fell onto a house. Multiple trees were reported down near Myers, while additional trees blocked roads in Dryden and Freeville.
A wire fell into the roadway near the First Presbyterian Church in Trumansburg. In Schuyler County, a tree fell onto wires along County Route 6 near Mecklenburg, and wires came down along South Genesee Street near Montour Falls.
Farther south, a tree fell onto wires near Campbell in Steuben County.
The same system produced damaging winds and flash flooding across much of western New York. Flooding closed lanes on interstates 390 and 590 in Monroe County, inundated roads around Henrietta and Rochester and forced road closures in Orleans and Niagara counties.
In Medina, heavy runoff and overwhelmed storm drains sent water into the lower level of Orleans Community Health Hospital. Numerous roads around the community were also flooded.
Storm damage stretched west into Niagara, Genesee, Orleans and Chautauqua counties, where trees and wires came down in communities including Newfane, Bergen, Barre, Falconer, Kennedy and Lakewood.
No widespread injuries were immediately reported in the preliminary National Weather Service summaries. However, the reports document extensive property damage across a broad portion of the region.
Check out more photos and video from around Ontario County below:
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