Utility crews worked through the night, restoring power to commercial buildings and homes left in the dark by the strong winds that ushered winter back into Rochester.
Rochester Gas and Electric reported more than 14,000 outages Wednesday night, when a 64 mile per hour wind gust was reported at the airport. That was cut in half by morning and stood at about 5,000 by late morning. There were outages county-wide, but damage was heaviest on the west side.
Power lines came down on Manitou Road in Ogden, briefly trapping eight people in their cars until first responders made sure the power was cut. Manitou was closed from Route 531 to Buffalo Road. Gates Supervisor Mark Assini says 17 poles fell on Lee Road in Gates. Damage was extensive and Lee Road was closed from Trolley Boulevard to Lexington Avenue.
RG&E was still assessing damage at late morning and didn’t have estimated repair times yet.
The winds blew down at least two gas station canopies, one on South Plymouth Avenue in Rochester and the other in Batavia. Nobody was hurt.