High winds caused many fallen trees

AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) - The winds knocked down more than a few tree limbs overnight as winds roared through parts of western New York.

Throughout the course of the night and into the early morning hours, WNY saw wind gusts of 60-70 mph.

Amherst and Williamsville seemed to be one of the many areas with several trees taken down.

Greg's Tree Service said that they received at least 10 calls by late Sunday morning one of which involved a fence that was taken down by a tree that barely hit a house.

Tim Borow who was awakened by the falling tree said, "It was about 10 after 4 this morning, a loud crack crashed to the ground, hit the house, and woke me up. I jumped out of bed."

The peak winds came just as everyone was warned they would arrive. 

Greg Sojka from Greg's Tree Service told us of another major incident that occurred from the winds that involved a 3 week old Nissan SUV that was crushed on the back end with its front wheels off the ground.

He said he had many more calls he had to attend to this morning involving more damaged vehicles and garages.

Most of the trees that fell down were rotting and have been neglected making them weak enough to fall over. An advantage is due to the winter season, there was no foliage on them.

Sojka tells us, "Most of the damage has been caused by spruce trees snapping at the base. They were rotted out and finally broke and gave up."

He says damage such as this can be prevented by having an arborist look over the trees as well as knowing the signs like bark falling off or the top of the tree dying.