ELMIRA, N.Y. (AP) -
Emergency crews cleared trees, repaired power lines and assessed damage Friday, a day after a tornado with maximum winds of up to 110 mph ripped through this small Southern Tier city.
About 8,000 homes and businesses across the Elmira area remained without power after the tornado touched down Thursday just west of Elmira and cut a path of destruction for about 10 miles.
No serious injuries were reported, but emergency officials were still checking damaged homes and businesses block by block.
"Everything is just one big tangled mess," Mayor Susan Skidmore told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "We still have a long cleanup ahead of us."
Many of the city's Victorian homes and other buildings sustained extensive damage, some with slate roofs torn off by the high winds. The worst devastation was in the city's commercial business district, she said.
Chemung County spokeswoman Karen Miner said more than 100 people showed up overnight in a city shelter for displaced people. Most of them had no electric service at their homes.
At least 12 houses were deemed uninhabitable as the assessment continued, Miner said.
Damage survey teams from the National Weather Service who confirmed the Elmira tornado also determined that a microburst with winds up to 100 mph struck east of Elmira in Barton on Thursday.
Across the state, about 28,000 customers remained without power Friday afternoon, with outages concentrated from Elmira east to the lower Hudson Valley.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the utility NYSEG expects to have half of its customer outages in the Elmira area restored Friday night and three-quarters restored by Saturday night.
The storm was blamed for the death of 61-year-old Richard Schwartz, who was struck by collapsing scaffolding outside a church in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn. Police say lighting brought down bricks onto the scaffolding.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Friday said Schwartz was an assistant attorney general who served more than 25 years as an antitrust lawyer in the office's economic justice division.
"New York is a better place because of Richard's commitment to fairness and legal excellence," Schneiderman said.
Elmira N.Y., firefighters watch an electric wire fire closely after a tornado struck the area, July 26, 2012, in Elmira N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth)
