Possible small tornado sweeps into Buffalo, damaging buildings and scattering tree limbs

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A sudden storm damaged buildings, flipped cars and sent debris swirling over downtown Buffalo on Monday.

The National Weather Service was on site to determine whether a spiraling column caught on multiple videos shortly before 2 p.m. was a tornado. One video showed the cell appearing to move from Lake Erie into the city, which sits on the lake’s shore, sending pieces of roofing flying.

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

In the aftermath, photos showed a car on its roof in a parking lot, street signs bent and fallen tree limbs across roads and sidewalks.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Poloncarz said a nursing facility damaged in the storm was assessing whether to move patients. A school sustained damage to some windows, several traffic lights were knocked offline 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. Tornados were confirmed in the towns of Eden and West Falls three weeks ago.