Wednesday night’s storms were no joke. The severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches (and then warnings in some places) weren’t kidding this time. Rarely during these events do I lose power (thank you Village of Webster) and have little damage aside from small branches, twigs and leaves littering the yard.
Wednesday night, though, we weren’t so lucky.
I was sitting on my enclosed front porch with a few friends, sipping some wine and watching the lightning, when the power went out. Didn’t bother me; when that happens it’s usually only for a short time, and in the meantime it’s like camping. But, shortly thereafter, we heard a huge crash come from beside my garage. Seems that one of our trees had decided to make an unannounced visit to my neighbor’s roof.
A few of us ran outside to assess the situation, which proved somewhat difficult in the still-driving rain. Sure enough, our really big white pine had become uprooted, and much of it was resting atop our neighbor’s house. As adults do, we reconvened on the porch to discuss the ramifications of this disturbing event — and finish our wine.
After a while, the rains relented, my friends headed to their Fairport home (where they still had power), and my husband Jack went next door to check on the neighbors, Matt and Kari. Great neighbors that they are, they took the whole thing in stride, and laughed about how snake-bitten they seem to be when it comes to natural disasters and their homes. The tree had managed to punch a small hole in their roof, so Matt had already contacted his insurance agent, already putting things in motion.
Props to RG&E for getting our power back by 1:00 a.m. and for dispatching Birchcrest Tree and Landscape only a half hour after we called to remove a branch from a power line. And a HUGE shout out to J.M. Tree Service, who came out in force early Thursday afternoon to tackle the huge job of removing the huge tree.
And they did that very efficiently. It was a fascinating process watching the J.M. worker-bees sawing and removing huge chunks of tree, being careful not to cause any more damage, and chewing them all up in their shredder. By the end of the afternoon, our landscape looked a lot different, minus a few trees and a big piece of our fence. But the worst of the experience was over. One more adventure in the life of a homeowner.
I hope you and yours fared the storm, and if you did lose any trees, they fell without incident.
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(posted 9/3/2026)
webster on the web 
Oh dear! Glad it wasn’t worse!!
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No changes for tomorrow! Just a bigger lawn.
First, I am sorry you had to go through this ordeal, but am so glad no one was hurt.
And also, I am just so amazed and impressed and grateful for all that the RG&E, the tree removal, and all the various recovery persons do to take care of people and places in these situations. It would be so overwhelming to me, and they come in and know just what to do. THNK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
For all the RG&E workers who probably hear the complaints when power doesn’t get restored right away, you are appreciated more than you are probably realize. You’re out there working in those conditions that we’re all trying to get away from. We don’t want to take you for granted. Thank you again.
I agree 100%.well said!
Wow, Missy! So glad you and your neighbors are fine. I was driving home
Wow, that must have been scary to drive through.