Tales of the Eden tornado: 'It was the scariest it's ever been living up here for 24 years'

Eden, N.Y. (WBEN) - "It was the scariest it's ever been living up here for 24 years."

The remnants of Hurricane Beryl made its way through Western New York on Wednesday, leaving in its wake damage from four confirmed tornados that touched down in Chautauqua County, Erie County and Genesee County.

In the Town of Arkwright, an EF-1 rated tornado touched down at around 12:06 p.m. ET and tore a three-mile trek into the Town of Hanover before dissipating eight minutes later. Estimated peak winds associated with this tornado were listed at 110 mph, according to the National Weather Service .

However, this same storm that generated a tornado in Chautauqua County was not done just yet, as it eventually made its way Northeast into the Town of Eden.

Don Sutfin is a resident who lives on Wepax Road, a dirt road in Eden with a number of other residents but no outlet. He says he was watching the storm's path unfolding before him on WIVB-TV when meteorologist Todd Santos said it was making its way to Eden.

"It kind of got a little quiet. It was still kind of sunny out, and then all of a sudden it started pouring, the wind started kicking up, so I grabbed our two Golden Retrievers and headed down into the basement," Sutfin recalled in an interview with WBEN. "Got down to the basement, we lost power almost immediately, and then 30 seconds later, I was able to look out some basement windows and it was still. Then I came out and assessed the situation. We had lacrosse nets and golf nets 100 yards into the woods, and lost a couple umbrellas."

According to the National Weather Service, the tornado touched down along Jennings Road near Kickbush Gulf, and made its way through some open space and eventually into a wooded area near Sauer Road. The tornado was registered as an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with estimated peak winds of 85 mph.

Sutfin says this tornado ranks among the top-two natural phenomenons he has experienced in his years living in Eden. It's between this storm and seven feet of snow he faced a number of years ago.

Meanwhile, the damage done along Wepax Road was substantial, according to Sutfin.

"100 yards West of me, they didn't know anything went on. Then 100 yards East of me, we were basically cutting up four trees with two other neighbors," he detailed. "One's got a little damage to his house, more of a porch issue, maybe some windows. But we cut up four trees just to get this dead end road opened up. We're good to go."

Just North of where the tornado touched down, Adam Sidey and his family were out in the yard on E. Church Street when they saw the clouds to the South starting to go up at a high rate of speed. That's when he grabbed his phone and started videotaping what unfolded before him.

"At first, it was basically, 'Turn right. Don't turn this way!' And then after it all died down, it was let's go see if everybody's OK over there," said Sidey recalling his initial thoughts upon seeing the tornado. "We took a ride, and everybody was OK that we could get to. But then emergency services showed up, and we let them take care of it after that. We got out of their way."

Once the tornado had passed, Sidey and his wife ended up taking a trip down Sauer Road to further assess the damage.

"A lot of trees down, power lines, roofing material everywhere, insulation, stuff like that. A couple of trees on houses, but nothing crazy. The frame and structure was OK," Sidey said with WBEN.

"There was one lady stuck in her house. We got the tree out so she could move, get out of the house. Another guy down there stopped, his house was worse than hers, but he was over there helping her. It's a good community around here."

Sidey adds the tornado tops the charts of weather experiences for him over the years.

After churning its way through Sauer Road, the storm eventually cut its path across Sisson Highway (Route 75), leaving behind several downed trees and even some homes and other buildings significantly damaged.

Luckily for resident Marv, his house escaped any sort of damage from the tornado along Route 75.

"We were looking at our sliding glass door, and basically there was a patch of blue clouds running right alongside of the big clouds over near the lake. And I said, 'Well, I don't think we're going to see anything.' And all of a sudden I saw this other thing come kind of sweeping around, it just was going in a circle. I told the wife, I said, 'I think we'd better go downstairs. I don't know what that is, but it doesn't look good,'" said Marv in an interview with WBEN.

While Marv's house and immediate property escaped any damage, he says some land he owns just down the road saw a bunch of trees down in a field where his neighbor is growing beans.

"It took down a bunch of trees along the hedgerows, so you can see where it came down through there. So a lot of damage that we don't even know about yet, probably," Marv said.

As it turns out, this isn't the first experience for Marv when dealing with tornados in Western New York.

"I was driving in Hamburg when they had that one a couple of years ago when it hit the [Fairgrounds]. I was coming up [Route] 20, and I happened to looked over and I saw this thing kind of swirling around. I said to myself, 'Oh, that looks like it could be damaging right there.' And it did, it hit the fair pretty good," Marv recalled.

Perhaps the most harrowing experience from Wednesday's tornado in Eden came not far from Marv's house just down the road on Sisson Highway.

Ken Gawel of Orchard Park is a delivery driver with Crystal Rock Water, who was out on a regular delivery run in the Southtowns. He says he was getting severe weather alerts on his phone, and thought he was driving away from the storm heading North on Route 75.

"As I was coming down Sisson Highway, the rain started picking up, going sideways and the wind picked up. So I pulled over, I said, 'Well, I'll just sit here.' And as soon as I pulled over, it intensified," said Gawel with WBEN. "I was on the side of the road for 20 seconds and all sudden, the tree right next to me crashed over the top of my truck. The trees on the other side of the road we're all busted, wires came down. I was literally pinned. I couldn't move six inches left, right, back, any way at all."

The trees and other branches came down on Gawel's cab of the truck, right above where he was sitting. Other branches also came down across the back of his truck, where the racks of water were stored.

Gawel is confident his truck was sitting in the direct path of the tornado as it churned its way across the road.

"The houses all up here on the left-hand side, the roofs are ripped off. You can see down the road a little bit, there's a camper tipped right over. So it was a direct line," Gawel said.

"If you get up a little farther, you can see trees that were cut right in half, or the tops of them just ripped off. There's two houses up there where the roofs are ripped off. There was a whole bunch of new pole barns in the back, and they're all just leveled right to the ground."

After the storm passed, Gawel immediately called 9-1-1, where he was told help was on its way.

"I told them my situation, and then I called my wife and got her all upset," Gawel said with a laugh. "Then some neighbors came out and they were talking to me, and I was just sitting waiting for help. And then the State Police came, and two young guys were able to rip the driver's door open and I was able to slide out. Otherwise, I'd still be there."

Despite being trapped for some time as a result of the tornado damage, Gawel escaped with just a cut on top of his head and some other scratches. He feels if he was sitting in the passenger seat of his truck, he'd no longer be with us to tell his story.

"It's funny. My heart rate was high, the EMT checked me out, but he said my blood pressure was perfect. 120 over 80," Gawel joked.

The storm eventually swept its way over the hill and across East Eden Road, where the path of damage continued. There saw a couple of powerlines toppled over with a number of trees severely damaged.

In addition, one local farmer suffered the loss of one of his barns, and extensive damage to another barn. From what WBEN was told, the family did not lose any livestock that was in the one barn at the time.

Then on Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed two more tornados to touch down across the region.

The same storm that swept through the Town of Eden also dropped a third confirmed tornado in the Town of Aurora, registering an EF-1 rating with estimated peak winds of 110 mph. It stretched a 1.5-mile span starting near West Falls before dissipating near Griffins Mills.

A fourth touch-down of a tornado was recorded in the Town of Darien in Genesee County. This EF-0 tornado cut a one-mile path from Darien into the Town of Alexander before dissipating, reaching estimated peak winds of 75 mph.