STORM AFTERMATH
Local areas recovering from damage caused by EF1 tornado
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. » Severe weather hit the Capital Region this weekend. According to the National Weather Service, Saturday evening saw a pair of EF1 tornadoes touch down. Wind speeds reached 100 and 110 miles per hour in Stillwater and Schaghticoke, respectively.
Severe damage was inflicted upon a mobile home on McDermott Road near County Route 75 in Stillwater. Several trees were uprooted, and large branches were downed throughout the area. The brief tornado touchdown had a path length of about 0.25 miles and a width of 50 yards.
Likewise, in Schaghticoke, severe damage was done to a house on Verbeck Avenue and a shed in the backyard of the house which was destroyed. Several large trees were uprooted near the house, and many trees were downed near a cemetery around the intersection of Routes 40 and 67. The high school and elementary school also experienced roof damage.
“There was some damage, but thankfully, the damage seems scattered. There were no injuries, and for that, we are espe
cially grateful. Things could have been much worse if the tornado had hit the area with more force,” Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin remarked on the extent of the damage caused by the tornado.
“It is a reminder of the awesome and sudden power of nature,” McLaughlin added.
“Pretty much all the power has been restored to the area,” Rensselaer County Director of Public Safety Jay Wilson said on the latest in the aftermath of the storm.
“Everything is moving forward; we dodged a big bullet,” Wilson explained.
“It was a multitude of both power companies, NewYork State Electric and Gas and National Grid, both of them were involved. National Grid had the majority of it that was up in the rear part of the high school and elementary school parking lot. All of the power has been restored there,” Wilson continued on the cleanup efforts.
“The school is under repair; they were right on the scene right away. Custodians were working on boarding up windows that were broken out, as well as flipping the roof back over, the corner of the roof that flipped up which drained a lot of the inside of the two classrooms,” Wilson noted on the status of the school.
“Our county Emergency Services team were on the scene minutes after the tornado hit, along with a representative of my office. We are very appreciative of the quick response of our emergency services providers who also were on the scene very quickly and helped protect residents from numerous downed power lines. Crews from National Grid were also on the scene very quickly,” McLaughlin added on the swift response.
According to the American Red Cross, three people, two adults, and one child, who lived at the house on Verbeck Avenue were provided financial assistance for shelter, food, and clothing
Wilson added that local neighbors and family members brought them down a park model RV and parked it there for them to stay so they could remain around the belongings from their house that were strewn about from the storm. Sheriff and State Police patrols were also increased to monitor the area, according to Wilson.
In addition, Wilson noted that the family had also suffered through the tornado from 1998 that inflicted a bulk of the damage to the Mechanicville area.
“We feel very badly for the family who lost their home from the tornado. This is the second time they lost their home due to a tornado. A representative from my office visited the family personally, and we are ready to help if needed to deal with this sad event,” McLaughlin added how the county is helping the family recover.
Wilson also spoke to their preparedness efforts ahead of the storm.
“We monitor constantly the weather; we get alerts all the time, everybody’s phones was activating,” Wilson said. “So all this stuff we’ve prepared for, the emergency alerts we’ve prepared for, it’s a godsend for us.
“We take it for heart in the area when an alert goes out. Everybody, when the warnings went out they listened to them; they took cover when they were supposed to. Our biggest challenge was trying to figure out what the path was.”
Additionally, Wilson elaborated on how various agencies coordinated in monitoring and assessing the destruction path.
“Staff and fire departments mapped out paths.
We checked residents and made sure that people were out when the weather broke,” Wilson said.
“We went through the village and all the way up through Johnsonville where we believed the path went. The biggest hits were the high school, elementary school and that one house on Verbeck, a bunch of trees, bunch of power poles, cemetery, some damage to the roof of the shopping mall right in front of the shopping mall there,” Wilson continued on the areas impacted the most.
“On the initial dispatch I was only five miles away [from Verbeck Avenue] so I physically went right to the scene as the emergency manager and we set up a command post at the firehouse, so we tried to coordinate our efforts so we don’t need numerous locations,” Wilson noted on their operational setup.
“We had state resources there within a half an hour of the incident starting, and then we had the power companies there within the hour. They worked through the night because there was a lot of poles that they had to reset,” Wilson added on the power that has since been restored.
Wilson also reminded residents to have a plan and heed warnings sent out for when weather events like this one happen again in the future.
“The biggest thing we can ask that people please don’t take for granted the weather. We can’t control it; nobody can control it,” Wilson explained.
“When we put warnings out, please listen to them and act accordingly,” Wilson added.