Small tornado could hit Buffalo, damaging buildings and scattering tree branches

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A sudden storm damaged buildings, overturned cars and sent debris swirling through downtown Buffalo on Monday.

The National Weather Service was on scene to determine if a spiraling column captured on multiple videos shortly before 2 p.m. was a tornado. One video shows the cell appearing to move from Lake Erie toward the city, which sits on the lakeshore, sending pieces of roofing flying.

“It surprised everybody,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said at a news conference.

After the incident, photos showed a car on its roof in a parking lot, bent road signs and tree branches fallen onto roads and sidewalks.

No injuries were immediately reported.

Poloncarz said a nursing home damaged by the storm was evaluating whether to move patients. A school suffered window damage, several traffic lights were knocked out and some cars were overturned, Mayor Byron Brown said.

If a tornado is confirmed, it would be the third reported in Erie County in a month, Poloncarz said. Tornadoes were confirmed in the towns of Eden and West Falls three weeks ago.