Wind Causing Damage

High morning winds are already causing damage in Western New York.  WInd gusts reached a peak of 75mph around 8:30am.

A part of the roof on the Fieldhouse at Ralph WIlson Stadium was ripped right off by the wind and was closed to fans.  There were reports of a concession trailer that blew over and several injuries were reported.  Both goal posts were also damaged by the wind gust but were fixed before the game.

Power crews have been working all day long restoring power to residents who have been in the dark since this morning. 

National Grid is now reporting about 5,000 residents with outages in Erie County.  That's acutally down from a peak of about 15, 000 people who were without power before noon time.  The highest number of outages are in the Town of Amherst where they're are over 3,000 outages.  All other reports are scattered around the county. In Genesee County, National Grid reported about 4,000 people without power around 9am, about 2,000 of those customers have had their power restored.

NYSEG is reports that over 16,000 people had no power during the worst part of the storm.  At 4pm, 14, 000 people are still in the dark.  A spokesman for NYSEG says high winds are hampering their efforts and hope to have power restored to most people tonight but some may not have their power up until Monday.  

Officials at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport are reporting numerous jetways blown into the terminal building.

Several road closures are also being reported. Transit Road is closed in both directions from Sheridan Drive to Maple Road because of power lines on the ground. Route 5 is closed between Camp Road and Bayview Road. 

There have also been numerous reports of trees and power lines in the roadway.

The Town of Wheatfield has an emergency center at the Wheatfield Community Center on Church Road. It will be open all night, everyone is welcome.