Severe storm spreads damage across Rome

ROME, N.Y. — The city of Rome continues to clean up from a devastating, confirmed tornado that struck on Tuesday afternoon, July 16.

The storm came up Route 365 and passed directly through downtown before heading to East Rome, according to county and city officials, who shared information during a press briefing Tuesday night. The storm, which Oneida County Administrator Anthony J. Picente Jr. likened to nothing the area has ever seen before, downed trees and power lines and damaged numerous buildings.

The storm was so powerful, it moved the B-52 bomber on display at Griffiss Business & Technology Park at the Steven J. DiMeo Campus off its concrete base and rotated the plane. The wall of a downtown brick building that housed a Revolutionary War mural for decades crumbled.

Wednesday, Rome City Hall was open only for essential business and all city parks and pools remain closed until further notice.

A state of emergency was declared for Oneida County as well as the city of Rome, and a shelter was opened at 394 Hangar Road. The county has also established a command center at the terminal building in Griffis Park.

No fatalities were reported.

Several businesses in the city suffered considerable damage during the storm including Keaton & Lloyd Bookshop at 236 W. Dominick St and Kabari Wellness Institute at 214 W. Liberty St.

“There’s a lot of damage to the front of the building and roof, but the community has been amazing and helping us clean up,” the store said in a Facebook post that also shared photos of the damage.

According to Rome Mayor Jeffery Lanigan, as many as 11,000 people in Rome, along with about 30,000 total in Oneida County, were without power after the storm. He cautioned the outage could last for several days.

The city is working with the county to assess the storm damage, starting from the most affected areas downtown and working their way out, he said.

“Rome is resilient,” Lanigan said. “We’re going to build back. I promise you, Rome will come back even better.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a statewide state of emergency in response to the storms.

Hochul held a press briefing Wednesday morning in Rome, where she shared that 22 buildings were damaged with four of them declared a total loss.

The state is working to compile the damages, combined with the damages the same storm caused in nearby Canastota, to see a federal disaster declaration. In order to meet the declaration threshold, the area must have sustained $37 million in public damage to roads, bridges, buildings, and any other public property.

The New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is assembling crews to assist with the clean-up efforts in Oneida County. The Department of Transportation also has vehicles available to assist.