The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Wilton during Thursday night’s storms, one rated EF1 and the other EF0. Crews spent Friday clearing downed trees and power lines across the Saratoga County town.
Spectrum News 1 meteorologists say Thursday’s twisters bring the total number of tornadoes confirmed in New York state this year to 17.
According to the National Weather Service, the two tornadoes touched down back to back.
The first carried winds of 110 mph, lasted about five minutes and left a path nearly two miles long. The second had winds of 85 mph, lasted about a minute and left a path two-tenths of a mile long.
Among those cleaning up Friday was Yvonne Dunn, who has lived in her Wilton home for 30 years and said she had spent the past decade slowly renovating it.
“It’s just crazy, it’s just crazy. We never get tornadoes,” Dunn said.
Dunn said her security cameras went dead around 6 p.m. Thursday. About 90 minutes later, she got a call from a neighbor, came home and found two trees had crashed through her roof.
“I was in the middle of fixing it up. And now I guess I’m not,” Dunn said.
She said she is now relying on neighbors to help remove the trees so she can assess the damage.
“I’ve got two trees on the roof that I was trying to cut off to see — it’s got a hole in it. I found that already,” Dunn said. “I’m lost. I don’t know what to do. It’s a lot.”
Wilton Town Supervisor Toni Sturm said the scope of the damage was startling.
“Driving around and seeing the extent of damage in some of the neighborhoods was really overwhelming,” Sturm said. “And it’s a miracle that more houses weren’t damaged.”
Sturm said she plans to declare a state of emergency for the town and that the biggest challenge ahead will be helping homeowners secure reimbursement for storm damage. As of Friday, Sturm said she was not aware of any injuries related to the storm.