The Last three days have been an education.

Tree down on the bank of the Chemung River in West Elmira, NY.

Blocked path behind Pirrozzolo Park in West Elmira, NY.

Tin roof from nearby business on the Clemens Center Parkway in Elmira Eastside, NY.

Typical damage in West Elmira, NY.

Edgewood Street in Elmira, Westside, NY.

Trees down at Elmira College, around historic Cowles Hall.

Ruined embankment means firewood for Guinnip and Second Street residents in Elmira, NY.

 Power outages continued right through Sunday July 29, 2012 for residents of the Town of Elmira, NY.

Split trees were a common site, like this on Foster Avenue, Elmira, NY.

NYSEG and the National Grid workers kept busy for more than three days.

Our Lady of Lourdes Church needed a cleanup before weekend services, Town of Elmira, NY.

Uprooted trees were a dime a dozen in Elmira, NY, after the tornado.

Very unusual sight: usually National Grid trucks in place of Fire Dept. emergency vehicles.

Hope there were no prisoners in the West Elmira Police Station on Thursday.

The gray circle was completely under water in about a minute or two.  My Malibu sat in the black circle as the storm howled around me.  The house on the corner (with the maroon car) still has a backyard full of its neighbor's tree, uprooted near their wall.

Euclid and Second, one block behind where I sat in my car.

Another uprooted tree near the West Elmira Town Hall.

About a block away from our home, yet another uprooted tree.

My husband rode out the epicenter of the storm in County Offices in DownTown Elmira, NY.  Like me, he watched as hail battered the windows.  I watched the trees around me go crazy in the winds, dropping limbs all around me.  County Employees went to the basement of their buildings.

Eventually, I drove up onto the sidewalk and around the huge puddle to Guinnip and First.  The wind and rain and hail were so heavy that I could not see that two trees crossed the street ahead of me.  I turned down Guinnip and wove my way around all the traffic that was detouring from a flooded Church and Hoffman Streets intersection.  Our friend Bill at Westside Wine and Liquors tells me water ran all the way up the sidewalks and nearly covered the stoop of his store.

Some residents wont have power until Tuesday.

pb

Little Pond