Amanda Alexander was at her home on Thompson Street in the Village of Corfu when she heard the storm approaching.
"All of a sudden, it sounded like a train was coming through the house," said Alexander. "But we live next to a train, so I didn't think much of it at first, but then when I looked out the front window, I've never seen winds blowing like that before. So, I went and shut the front door, grabbed my dog, and headed for the basement."
Ten minutes later, her neighborhood was turned upside down.
"Almost all of the trees are down, so we lost all of our trees," said Alexander. "Everything in our backyard was destroyed. We have a screened-in porch, and that was destroyed. Everything inside the screened-in porch was destroyed. Windows were blown in."
Mickey Zanghi lives a couple of streets down from Alexander. She had a similar story.
"We thought it was a loud train going by and we thought it was a loud crash with the train, so we looked out our window and there was the tornado, smack right in front of us. Everybody you could see scrambling, taking cover, running into their basements," Zanghi said.
In all, emergency officials say close to 30 homes, barns and sheds suffered mostly minor damage. A few homes suffered severe damage, some losing roofs. A florist shop lost its roof, and a greenhouse business was nearly leveled to the ground.
Luckily, though, no one was hurt.
"It's scary, knowing that [the tornado] was going to my neighbors and my neighboring towns," commented Corfu Fire Chief Brian McMartin, who witnessed the funnel cloud going through his backyard. "So, I got on the radio to warn the next town over that it was on its way."
"The main thing was everybody checked with each other's neighbors to make sure that nobody was hurt, then we started looking around. My house got a trampoline on it," said Mickey Zanghi.
On Sunday morning, officials with the National Weather Service along with members of the New York State Police will be doing an aerial fly-over to gauge just how many times the tornado touched down, and also to assess the damage along the storm's path.
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Tornado Causes Damage in Hilton
Last Update: 7/26 10:44 am
Hilton, NY -- The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado touched down in parts of Hilton Saturday night.
The tornado caused damage in the area of Hilton Parma Road. One house and several trees sustained damage. Other items were thrown around including, patio furniture, trampolines and children's toys. No injuries were reported.
The NWS said this is the first tornado to touch down in Monroe County in 28 years. The last tornado was in Rush in September of 1981.
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