TOWN OF TURIN, New York (WWNY) – Update: the National Weather Service confirms an EF3 tornado touched down in Lewis County. What follows is our earlier story about the damage it caused.
Several buildings at the West Wind Motel & Townhouses on Route 26 in the town of Turin were damaged. Roofs were torn off, windows were broken, and trailers were tossed around like toys.
Kim Long and her son were in a townhouse when the storm hit.
“We sat here and huddled, and he cried and he held me, and he was so scared. ‘Mommy don’t leave me. Mommy help us. Mommy protect me.’ So we stayed here and all of a sudden the glass broke. We heard things blowing around outside,” she said.
At least three people in the townhouses had to move out. They’re now staying in the Edge Hotel in nearby Lyons Falls.
West Wind’s owners rushed to Turin from Long Island when they heard the news.
“I got a call from my mechanic to get in the car and drive up. I thought it was a joke. I didn’t understand. I got all the alerts on my phone, but you never really believe it. Oh, there’s a thunderstorm that’s going to strike. What are you talking about? It’s blue skies. Tornado, that doesn’t happen here,” said Nicole Sadowski.
The owners said their horse was found dead.
At Turin’s Snow Ridge Ski Resort, most of the chair lifts were damaged. (Our story continues beneath the photo.)
“I just got off the mountain. We drove around to see as much as we could. We have damage to just about all of our lifts, all three chair lifts including our T-bar. Hopefully, when the trees are cleared from that, we can find that there wasn’t too much actual damage and it’s just a matter of clearing the debris,” said Nick Mir, general manager, Snow Ridge Ski Resort.
At Steak ‘n Brew on Route 26 in Turin, a large tree fell on the restaurant. The owners declined to speak with us at this time. (Our story continues beneath the photo.)
In the town of Lewis near the Oneida County border, a hay barn on Mud Lake Road was destroyed and part of a garage was missing. (See the photos below.)
Town highway crews were busy cleaning up trees and debris on the road.
Village of Turin Mayor and Lewis County District 7 Legislator Josh Leviker says he has never seen a storm like this in his lifetime.
“Other than the small tornado that was probably 10 years ago on Gardner Road, up at the wind farm, other than that, nothing of an impact where it was buildings, you know, the whole ski slope. It’s unfortunate,” he said.
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