Straight Line Winds to Blame for West Side Storm Damage | News

BUFFALO, N.Y. -"It was 30 seconds of crazy," that's how one Connecticut Street resident described a blast of severe weather that hit several streets of Buffalo's west side Saturday morning.

Click here to see a photo gallery of the storm damage.

The National Weather Service says it was straight line winds that caused extensive damage to numerous buildings on Connecticut  and other streets in the neighborhood.

Cleanup is now underway in the area of 14th and Connecticut Streets.  Around 9 a.m.,  heavy winds caused damage to several brick buildings and damaged the facade on at least one of those buildings.

Half the roof was also torn off one of the buildings and flew around 200 feet east onto another building.

Witnesses at the scene told police that they saw a funnel cloud and that their car was lifted in the air. Residents of the three buildings damaged have been temporarily displaced due to the damage. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

Click on the video above for footage from the scene.

Representatives from the National Weather Service responded to the scene and made the determination that despite reports of a funnel cloud, a tornado was not to blame.

Click here for a link to Storm Team 2 Doppler.