EARLVILLE – Unpredictable summer storms caused property damage, downed trees and power lines in several areas around Chenango County yesterday.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch as a result of the storm system predicted to hit the area Thursday morning. A tornado watch means that the conditions exist for a tornado to occur. As the day progressed, the alert changed to a tornado warning.

Around noon Thursday, a tornado warning was issued for those in the Sherburne, Earlville, Smyrna and Otselic areas. A tornado warning is more severe than a watch and means that a tornado has been reported.

According to Harold Ives, Deputy Fire Coordinator in the Chenango County Office of Emergency Management, Chenango County was mostly spared during Thursday’s storm.

“The majority of the damage seems to have been in Otsego and Cortland County. We caught just the corner of it,” Ives explained.

Local emergency services reported less than 20 calls of trees and wires down. Ives said traffic was not heavily impacted due to many of the trees falling on secondary roads and the speed with which they were cleared up.

There were two areas of significant damage. The roof was torn from a barn on County Road 14 in the Village of Earlville. In Smyrna, a tree came down on a house on Bliven-Coye Road.

An eyewitness at the scene, an Earlville resident, said they were driving a car near the barn when the storm arrived.

He said he and other vehicles had pulled over to the side of the road. The driver described a sudden wave of very heavy rain and wind that reduced visibility to nearly zero. They saw tree limbs falling and became so alarmed they repositioned their vehicle to the other side of the road to get away from the shaking power lines. During the most intense moment the sound of crashing metal and wood could be heard, but those nearby said it was raining so hard they couldn't see what it was. After a few minutes the worst of the storm passed and the damage was obvious, with metal sheeting and wooden debris all around.

The National Weather Service is still investigating the storm, but some media outlets have reported that wind gusts reached 60 miles per hour during the incident. No injuries were reported as a result of the storm.

At 6 p.m. NYSEG reported that 480 customers were without power throughout the county. This morning, that number was down to 70 customers and they are expecting power to be fully restored by this afternoon.

Nearby schools implemented sheltering procedures within the building as a result of the storm, ushering students into safe locations within the buildings. Normal school operations resumed after the storm had passed.

Unpredictable summer storms are likely to continue for the next several months. The National Weather Services advises people to get inside when storms occur, go to the lowest possible floor of your house and protect yourself as much as possible from flying debris.

The National Weather Service reported they will visit the worst hit areas on Friday to collect more data.

For more information, visit weather.gov.