Canandaigua family speaks about damage after overnight storm; See photos from viewers
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Neighbors in Ontario County are cleaning up after an overnight storm that brought more than 70-miles-per-hour winds, uprooted trees, and damaged property.
The Pettinger family says it only took about two minutes for Sunday night’s storm to blow through their property in Canandaigua. It knocked over trees that had been here for over 100 years, causing massive property damage.
“This thing (tree) has been here since we bought the house. We’ve been using it every year until now,” Steven Pettinger said.
Steven Pettinger says that, just after 3 a.m., he woke up to the sound of howling wind and cracking branches.
“The power went out and immediately after that, we heard up a wind up of air and noise,” he said.
Everyone is okay. However, winds over 80 miles per hour brought a tree down into his outdoor hot tub, narrowly missing his family’s home on Knapp Road.
“This is the most extreme I’ve ever seen in my life and just from the damage that we woke up to,” Steven Pettinger said.
Down the road at the house of his father, Glenn, on Foster Street, road crews spent the day working to restore power to the area.
“We came up and, of course there was no power, so we had flashlights and I shined the flashlight and immediately I saw branches right at the window,” Glenn Pettinger said.
Glenn Pettinger says he and his wife Marilyn rushed to the basement after a tree fell on top of their home.
“We stayed there for a few minutes until it seemed to calm down,” Marilyn Pettinger said. “And then we came back up and with flashlights we could see both trees were on the house. it was terrifying.”
Steven says the landscape of his property will be forever changed but is just glad he and his family are okay.
“We just basically tried to go back to sleep and woke up this morning very early and just as the sun was coming up we could see the damage,” Steven Pettinger said.
The Pettingers say it will take months to even years to fully clean up their property but they’re just glad everyone in their family is okay.
Viewers sent photos of damage after a line of severe storms rolled in south of Canandaigua after 3 a.m. Sunday morning. There was no indication of a tornado but the storm had possible wind gusts over 80 miles per hour. You can send photos to News10NBC through our First Alert Weather app.