The National Weather Service Wednesday confirmed a tornado touched down in the city of Rome Tuesday afternoon, rating it an EF-2 with maximum winds of 135 mph.
The tornado touched down at 3:25 p.m. and traveled more than 5 miles, ripping steeples off two churches, destroying homes, and knocking out power to thousands.
The storm caused major damage throughout the city: the steeple of the St. Mary’s of the Assumption Church collapsed onto the church’s roof, a B-52 airplane was knocked off its foundation at the former Griffiss Air Base, and the downtown mural of Brigadier General Peter Gansevoort on horseback was destroyed. Officials are mobilizing resources for recovery.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday’s storm was the worst natural disaster to hit the city of Rome in its 228-year history.
“We are committed to doing whatever it takes to rebuild these services, these communities, the buildings," Hochul said. Because in a moment of crisis, I saw so clearly evident this morning, in a moment of crisis New Yorkers always unite.”
Hochul deployed 50 members of the National Guard to help with cleanup and recovery. Rome Mayor Jeffrey Lanigan urged residents to stay out of the way of clean-up crews for safety.
“We know everybody wants to help," Lanigan said. "We appreciate that’s what this community does, the smallest tragedies to the most largest ones as you’re seeing today. Everybody just wants to lend a hand. But we were truly blessed to have no major injuries and or deaths in our community and we do not want to see that ever happen in the clean-up efforts.”
Central New York Rep. Brandon Williams (R-Sennett) said he’s been in touch with FEMA since the storm touched down to help mobilize federal aid.
“My office is set up outside the Rome City Hall just to answer questions of constituents as they come by," Williams said. "We’re going to try to do the same thing in Canastota as soon as we can.”
Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand also called for FEMA to approve the state’s eventual request for a major disaster declaration. Hochul said the first step is making sure the area meets requirements.
“We first must calculate the scale of the damage. It has to exceed $37 million in public damage — meaning to roads, bridges, infrastructure, public buildings, libraries, schools, offices,” Hochul said. “Once that is calculated, we can put in a request and ask for a declaration of disaster from the federal government.”
On the state side, Senator Joe Griffo, whose district includes both Rome and Canastota, said the state will mobilize a number of agencies to assist with both the recovery and restoration efforts.
“The governor has said that she will talk to the division of budget and we will allocate direct financial resources to help when the federal government does not, and beyond that we will bring the Empire State Development Corporation here, the Department of Labor here, the Department of Financial Services to help with people’s insurance claims, so all of that will be a part of this effort,” Griffo said. “So now is the cleanup, then it’s the rebuilding.”
As of early Thursday, more than 5,000 homes and businesses remain without power in Oneida County, with most of those in the city of Rome.
