Severe weather knocks down trees and powerlines in Alden

Severe weather on Monday included a tornado warning late this afternoon in parts of Genesee, Wyoming and Livingston counties.

I went out to Alden with photographer Melanie Hidy, where we found plenty of damage.

"You just never know. Mother Nature," Alden resident, Rose Marie Wysocki said.

Overwhelmed is the word for how Wysocki feels.

"I survived 5/14/2022 and now this," Wysocki shared. "To come home from the doctors and find a tree on my house was not what I expected."

Wysocki now works at the Tops location in Alden .

A Maple tree fell on part of her home where her wood-burning stove is, which heats her house.

Other losses include her grill, her granddaughter's monster truck, wood racks and patio furniture.

She said there was no choice but to get to work on the cleanup efforts.

"I'll probably have to have the rest of it cut down, which will be sad because I love that tree. It was a good ol' sugar maple that kept my house nice and cool and now I'm going to have hot summers," Wysocki added.

Western New York Tree Guys Stephen Sojka said, "The wind came through here. It was a multi trunk Maple and it just banana peeled. One of the sections came down and it was a direct hit right onto the house and now, if you go on the other side, you'll actually see it's in the house."

Sojka explained that a tree also smashed through the roof of another home and building inspectors came to assess.

Thankfully, there was no one home at the time but there are people who have been displaced from the damage.

He added, "He condemned the living space upstairs. The tenants had to gather the stuff they could real quick and get out."

Sojka said, "We're taking off all of the weight off of the tree. It's going to come down to just one big limb laying on the house. The critical cuts are the last section of the tree that's on the house."

"Thank God nobody was hurt. That's my biggest concern. Unfortunately, it did take out my dog run, so my dogs are going to have to be walked outside to go to the bathroom and stuff. It's okay. We'll figure it out," Wysocki added.