Olly olly oxen free: Storm's over

By Lissa Harris
7/26/12 - 9:14 pm

Above: Rainbow over the Gypsy Wolf Cantina in Woodstock around 8pm this evening. Photo by Mara Dean; reproduced with permission.

Fast-moving thunderstorms tore across New York State like a freight train today. In the Catskills, the feared tornadoes never materialized -- though a little further west, they weren't so lucky. Chemung County has declared a state of emergency, and Elmira -- where there were reports of a tornado touching down -- is under a curfew.

The Times Herald-Record reports that a fire destroyed a barn on Route 55 in Swan Lake during the storm, but that firefighters have extinguished it.

Also, they report, the Monticello Police Department is without phone service after a lightning strike, and anyone needing emergency help in Monticello should call 911.

Thousands of New Yorkers are still without power in the wake of the storm, the Freeman writes, but apart from the southern edge of Ulster County, the Catskills region was mostly spared.

YNN declared the storm mostly over in the Hudson Valley by 8pm, and has TV crews "on the ground to scope out the extent of any damage."

In the Delaware County town of Roxbury, which missed most of the action, Jennifer Strom tweeted around 8pm:

Below: Radar imagery from the National Weather Service, as of 8:50pm.