By Catie O'Toole and Michelle Breidenbach The houses may not have pitched as badly as Dorothy’s did in “The Wizard of Oz,” but 50 mph winds struck Chittenango Sunday, damaging buildings in L. Frank Baum’s birthplace and forcing Oz-Stravaganza to cancel most of its final day. Vinnie Cuevas and Lorie Compoli were inside Evangel Community Church in Chittenango around...
Paul Perry of 102 Lenox Lane in Chittenango drags his mailbox away after it was snapped off its stand during a storm today. The winds also knocked down a large tree, which fell through the roof of Perry's home while he was in the living room and his wife was in bed. Nobody was injured. The damaged Evangel Community Church on McDonnell Street is in the background.
By Catie O'Toole and Michelle Breidenbach
The houses may not have pitched as badly as Dorothy’s did in “The Wizard of Oz,” but 50 mph winds struck Chittenango Sunday, damaging buildings in L. Frank Baum’s birthplace and forcing Oz-Stravaganza to cancel most of its final day.
Vinnie Cuevas and Lorie Compoli were inside Evangel Community Church in Chittenango around 9:20 a.m. singing a verse of “Jesus Messiah.”
Vendors' tents were blown astray by harsh winds this morning at Oz-Stravaganza in Chittenango. “The whole earth trembled and the veil was torn.”
Just then, they heard a rumble.
“All of a sudden, the front wall of the church started clapping — almost like somebody’s clapping their hands back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,” said the Rev. Jeffrey Heidt, who was on piano.
The winds whipped and debris flew in the dark sky.
“It sounded like the roof was being lifted from the walls,” Cuevas said.
Down the road, real-life Munchkins who starred in the Oz movie and were guests of honor at the annual Oz-Stravaganza festival, were eating breakfast at Delphia’s Restaurant & Bar when the power went out.
The Munchkins went to the American Legion Sunday afternoon to sign autographs since all Oz-Stravaganza activities at Dr. West Park were canceled, said festival co-director Colleen Zimmer.
“I was in the middle of the park and the rain just started, the winds started blowing and tents started flying,” Zimmer said. “It lasted only a couple minutes. When it was all done and over with it, there were tents flipped over — twisted and tangled — and stuff was strewn.”
High winds swept across Central New York, but Chittenango seemed to sustain the most damage, according to dispatchers at 911 centers in the region.
Some people said they saw what they thought was a tornado. National Weather Service meteorologist Joanne LaBounty said weather spotters filed reports about storm damage, but not of funnel clouds. The National Weather Service sent someone to Chittenango to determine whether the windstorm was a tornado.
Jim Teske, meteorologist for WSYR-TV (Channel 9), went to see the destruction, too. He thought damage on about one quarter-mile section of Genesee Street (Route 5) looked like it was caused by a straight-line wind. But damage closer to the church looked like it could have been caused by a tornado, he said.
A typical thunderstorm, with wind coming from one direction, will knock down trees in a straight line. A tornado will knock down trees in many directions.
A branch from Paul and Diana Perry’s tulip tree pierced the roof and bedroom ceiling of their Lenox Lane home. Paul Perry said he heard a loud sound as the tree fell. He yelled to his wife, who was in bed, to get on the floor with their two dogs. The Perrys weren’t hurt. But officials told them to leave their house.
“Danger” signs and yellow police tape blocked anyone from entering the Evangel Community Church on McDonnell Street. Village officials condemned the church building because of its structural damage, Heidt said.
A wall and the ceiling inside church cracked, the roof was damaged, and there was plaster and drywall on the carpet and pews, the reverend said.
The Sunday service had not started when the high winds hit the church. About 50 people attend the 10:30 a.m. service, Heidt said, but most parishioners were not in the building. Heidt said two of his children, Clay, 10, and Tessa, 7, were playing in the fellowship hall, a community room. An elderly parishioner, who was with the children, was rushed to the basement, Heidt said.
Three large trees outside the church collapsed, making a cracking noise so loud that it woke up neighbors.
“I really believe God’s hand was protecting us in the church,” Heidt said. “Buildings can be replaced; people can’t. We’re thankful it didn’t happen during church.”
No injuries were reported as a result of the storm, which wrecked some Oz-Stravaganza vendors’ tents, Chittenango First Assistant Fire Chief Luke Wittwer said.
Vendor Jackie Connolly, of Waterville, arrived at Dr. West Park on Genesee Street shortly before the winds picked up.
“It looked like the clouds were rolling in three different directions,” she said. “When I looked up in the sky, I saw debris circling in the air.”
Connolly clutched her tent so it wouldn’t blow away.
Heather Gelling, of Westmoreland, arrived after the storm to find the leg of her tent — with the ground stakes still attached — ripped out of the ground and wrapped in utility lines about 30 feet above. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. Gelling said all 3,000 tie-dye shirts she was selling were wet and probably ruined. The shirts are worth about $15,000, she said.
About a half dozen Oz committee members and a handful of vendors were at the park when the storm began.
“We just started running and trying to save stuff,” Zimmer said.
Village officials and Oz festival directors decided to cancel activities at the park because they were concerned about people’s safety, Zimmer said.
The Emerald City Idol singing competition finals will be rescheduled for another day.
After the storm, Connolly joked with other vendors about the irony of what happened.
“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Connolly said.
--Catie O’Toole can be reached at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.