Rochester Recent Storms - Flooding, Hail, Crops Hit

Photo from 13WHAM.com of Springwater/Dansville N.Y.

It was just last month when the Rochester, NY area was hit by crop damaging storms. Well it happened again on Wednesday, but this time was a bit different. The storms and damage were hit and miss, however, we had flash flooding added. Some streets were closed, homes flooded, and hail up to golf-ball size.

"The recent severe weather in the Rochester area is hitting local farmers particularly hard. Rain and flooding has washed out some fields and crops, but isolated hail storms have caused the worst damage."

We were told on TV recently that soon we will see fruit, and vegetables in stores that have bruises, but are edible. The bruising is from the hail. Bloomfield farms got hit hard. with "golf-ball size hail, and strong winds leaving some bruises crops and broken vines in pumpkin patches. Farmer, Mr. White said, "This is as bad as it gets.""

"It is like a machine gun, just sort of riddling the field with little pellets and the stems just burst right open," Jim Ochterski of Cornell Cooperative Extension said.

Beside the crops being hit we had flash floods. The flooding hit around rush hour as three inches of rain fell turning Rochester expressways from roads to rivers in a matter of minutes.

"Employees at Rochester Colonial found themselves on an island. Those who dared to leave got soaked and stuck.

Parts of Mount Read Boulevard and Lyell Avenue were nearly impassable. There were white caps in the passing lane of I-490 East and portions were shut down for time; I-390 South in Greece was backed up all the way to the airport.

The parking lot at the Mall at Greece Ridge flooded in a matter of minutes as water climbed as high as the tires. Inside the mall, some ceilings began to leak."

Severe Flooding from Thursday's storms hit Livingston County, Springwater/Dansville, NY, (pictured above), leaving some residents homeless.

In Greece, N.Y. some resident and emergency crews were kept busy trying to rid basements of water.

"Greece's Ridge Road Fire Department fielded upwards of 100 calls in a matter of hours. "We had areas of the district with flooding that I haven't seen flooded in the 20 years I’ve worked here,” said Alan Bubel of the Greece Ridge Fire Department. "We tried to get our engine company to a job and we actually got stuck in some water…We had to get people out of the water--one woman in a wheelchair, another woman stuck in her mini-van, so it was crazy for awhile."

It's to early to know if any part of the Rochester area will be considered a disaster area. On a personal note, I am fine. There was no major flooding where I live, just a bad T-storm. Once again I'm disappointed I missed out on seeing hail! A few miles from me they had hail.

Information & excerpts from 13WHAM most links offer slide shows.