Community members are picking up the pieces after last week’s storm which created a tornado in Pittsfield that traveled into the town of Laurens.
“It was a gorgeous day,” Dori Allison said from her porch on state Route 23 in Laurens Monday, July 6.
“Didn’t look like something would happen,” she added, seated feet from thick tree roots risen in the air where part of her driveway once was.
She said it was seconds between when she heard what almost sounded like a freight train approaching and her rush to go inside with her dog.
“I got inside an inside wall, and next thing you know, I’m seeing those trees out front bending,” she said. “I consider myself very lucky.”
She awaited a visit from an insurance adjuster, scheduled for Tuesday.
The tornado followed a path from Pittsfield to West Laurens and knocked down trees and power lines. Many area residents lost power during the storm and the following day. Parts of the affected area already had irregular cell service.
At least four structures were deemed a total loss from the storm and six people were displaced, Otsego County Emergency Services said July 1.
Adam Gill, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Binghamton forecasting office, said Tuesday that the tornado’s “damage was limited to two areas where it had a higher intensity, which is right when it first touched down, and near when it ended.”
Gill said that there are usually about two or three tornadoes per year in the Binghamton station forecasting area, which includes parts of upstate New York and Pennsylvania. Gill said there has been a slight trend upwards, though it is hard to ascertain whether that is an increase in reporting or an actual increase in tornadoes.
About a mile from Allison’s house, Kerry Vulcano and Charlie Vulcano weren’t home when the tornado barreled over Crawford Road, where many homes are surrounded by tall trees.
When they returned, “you couldn’t even drive up the road” because of the debris, Kerry Vulcano said Monday.
Their four-car garage rested not on its walls, but a tractor inside. A shed, along with the snowmobiles inside it, were totaled. A Virgin Mary statue remained untouched nearby, the couple said.
“It’s an oldie but a goodie,” Charlie Vulcano said of the tractor, which, while dented, still operates.
Kerry Vulcano said she had “no clue” how much the damages will cost, but “the insurance isn’t going to cover rebuilding it all.” Still, she said, “we’re strong, and we will persevere and come out stronger than before.”
The Vulcanos said they may have lost more due to the power outage, including a freezer full of meat and more potential water damage without a sump pump, if not for the work of their neighbors. Next door neighbors Neil Fogarty, Mary Fogarty and Nathan Fogarty worked to get generator power online shortly after the storm passed.
Neil Vulcano said he went over to check up the hill an hour or so after the storm ended. He said Crawford Road neighbors assisted each other with cleanup after the storm, including by clearing part of the roadway and checking in on elderly residents.
Vulcano said that “without question” people offered assistance to one another.
“You never have to even ask, it’s just they come down and they say, ‘Is everything all right?'” he said.
While the recovery efforts are underway, residents also remember the pieces of what was lost.
Allison looked at a cardinal flying by, the first of a group.
“She’s so lost,” she said. “I think they were living in the tree.”