Storms bring down trees and power lines; some house damage reported

The thunderstorms that rolled through the area Monday afternoon brought down trees and power lines, leaving thousands of people without electricity.

At 4pm Tuesday, Rochester Gas & Electric reported about 800 customers without power in Monroe County, including in parts of Pittsford, Mendon and Perinton. At the peak of the outages Monday afternoon, that number was more than 13,000. 

NYSEG reported about 257 of its customers were without electricity in Wayne County Tuesday afternoon. Most local National Grid customers are now back on line.

There are numerous trees down throughout the area and reports of damage to some houses and buildings due to the downed trees. A number of roads were blocked by downed tree limbs and power lines.

Monroe County Executive Adam Bello is asking residents to take extra precaution when traveling due to traffic signal outages, saying drivers should treat all dark traffic signals and intersections as all-way stops and ensure traffic is clear before proceeding. The Monroe County Department of Transportation and Monroe County Office of Emergency Management are working with the New York State Department of Transportation, local law enforcement, emergency response agencies, RG&E, National Grid and Fairport Electric to coordinate restoration to affected areas.

Credit Max Schulte/WXXI News

Some of the heaviest damage was in the Pittsford and Perinton areas, including Bushnell's Basin.  Afternoon commute times were impacted Monday by a number of roads closed due to downed power lines and tree limbs.

WXXI videojournalist Max Schulte surveyed some of the damage in Perinton on Monday afternoon:

Max says that a woman in her 90s lives in the house in Perinton on Duncott Road where a tree sliced through the front of the home. He says she's ok, and her neighbors were helping her out.