Tornado touches down in Buffalo and rips roof off Niagara Street building

BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — It was a rare tornado that ripped through Buffalo’s lower West Side on Monday and major cleanup continues.

The National Weather Service Buffalo confirmed it was an EF-1 tornado that touched down with an estimated peak wind of 90 mph.

A Niagara Street building near Downtown Buffalo has been deemed unsafe by the city after its roof was ripped off, displacing residents and businesses.

“The roof is gone,” replied Abdo Saleh, a resident.

“Pretty scary moments, you know,” declared Ken Colon, business owner.

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Two buffalo men share a friendship and deep ties to that building on Niagara Street.

Abdo Saleh has lived here for 33 years and his stepson owns the building. He was inside when the twister rolled through.

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“I go to the door — I see the living room is gone to the ground,” Saleh said.

He could not believe seeing the roof of his apartment torn off and shared photos of the devastation.

“I’m happy nobody got hurt, especially my son’s babies,” said Saleh.

Photo provided by Abdo Salen

“And I’m of the philosophy — everything happens for a reason,” Colon remarked.

Colon owns Mighty Fine Fashions in the building. He said he was just pulling up as bricks from the building flew everywhere.

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“Kinda was just a disbelief at that point. I didn’t know that the roof had blown off up until maybe couple hours later when you know there was a drone circling around and then obviously when he came down and let us know that these his living quarters had been affected,” described Colon.

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The City of Buffalo placed a notice on the building deeming it unsafe. Buffalo’s commissioner of permit and inspection says the posting is to keep people away from the building.

“They’re going to need a structural engineer to assess the damage to put together plans to fix the building itself and that’s all through the permitting process. we are already in contact,” Catherine Amdur explained.

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The Niagara Street building was one of three roofs significantly damaged. Right around the corner, on Prospect, a roof from a home blew off and landed around the block on Whitney Place.

For now, everyone is still amazed no one was hurt.

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“I’m just saddened by what happened and I’m hopeful and optimistic that we’re gonna get through it, some way, somehow,” Colon replied.

A GoFundMe was established to help Colon, which you can find here.

The city will conduct a special curbside pickup in the neighborhood hit by the twister. But city leaders are urging residents and businesses not to put debris to the curb until Friday, Saturday and Sunday for pick up on Monday, August 12.